AROUND £56 million pounds were spent for the development of the road network last year while an additional £51 million would be spend this year, the Communications Ministry announced yesterday.
The figures were released during a news conference, in which Minister Averoff Neophytou presented the work and vision of the communications ministry.
According to the ministry, £17,805,000 were paid for the construction and modernisation of public buildings last year while the amount for this year would reach £22,885,000.
Improvements to the island’s airports cost the state £8,350,000 in 2001 while an additional £2,810,000 were expected to be spent on airports this year.
But the most important development concerning the airports was the promotion of their development and management by a strategic investor and giving permission to private companies to fly in and out of Cyprus, Neophytou said.
On the health front, the ministry said that the new Nicosia hospital, currently under construction, would cost £50 million, and the Famagusta hospital £11,500,000.
Concerning the liberalisation of communications, Neophytou said his ministry had submitted to the House the proposal for changing CyTA’s operational framework, hoping that its conversion into a private shareholding company would give CyTA flexibility, autonomy and efficiency.
The communications ministry would now go ahead and prepare legislation to change the operational framework of post office services, Neophytou said.
The news conference was addressed, through live link, by Greek Transport Minister Christos Varelis and the leader of the EU’s Cyprus accession team Leopold Maurer.
Varelis stressed the need for market liberalisation and the creation of the conditions necessary to guide Cyprus into the EU.
Maurer said Cyprus was on track with harmonisation, with 24 chapters out of 29 having been completed, adding the final five chapters would be closed by June.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
