A NEW state-of-the art Highway Management system funded entirely by the European Union is expected to be operational by May 2004, Communications Minister Averoff Neophytou said yesterday.
Speaking at the presentation of a study carried out by a Greek and German company, Neophytou said works began in September at an estimated cost of _485,050.
“This is an ambitious project that would provide the government as well as other relevant authorities with a high technology tool, based on a Geographic Information System, that would enable us to manage information relating to the island’s road network,” Neophytou said.
“Such information may include, for example, data on traffic flows, accidents, project planning and geometric characteristics of roads and road works.”
The new system would incorporate a map editing toolbox that would allow the eventual use of a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system. The system would then be used by motorists to navigate around the island.
“The EU is in the process of building its own Global Positioning System, which they have named Galileo, but that won’t be put into operation until 2010,” Neophytou said.
“However, with their consent, Cypriot drivers would be able to use the American GPS system.”
Neophytou said the new highway management system would provide the authorities and traffic police with information regarding traffic and road infrastructure.
The head of the EU delegation in Cyprus, Adrian van der Meer, said the financing of the project was part of a yearly package of _10 million made available to Cyprus to assist its harmonisation efforts.
“The funding of the highway management system is not the only project the EU will be funding,” Van der Meer said.
“We will also be funding projects on ports, airports, as well as efforts to increase air safety, the protection of the environment and the transport of dangerous chemicals.”
Van der Meer assured that the annual funds would be available to Cyprus after its accession.
However, Neophytou said that despite the introduction of the new system, the hundreds of billboards that littered the highways were still a threat to public safety.
“The billboards stain Cyprus because they still litter the highways and continue to cause accidents,” he said.
Asked whether the EU would intervene to have the billboards removed, Van der Meer said Brussels could not interfere because there was no relevant directive in the acquis communautaire.
But Neophytou insisted that the Cyprus government would raise the issue in Brussels upon accession.
“Highways in an EU member state do not belong to their citizens but to all Europeans who use them,” he said.
“Therefore efforts should be made to ensure the safety of travellers. We hope that a change would take place and that the billboards will be eventually removed.”
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.
