THE Mayor of Strovolos yesterday urged the government to forget about building a tramline along the Pedieos riverbed as a way of easing traffic congestion.
Savvas Eliofotou said “the private car must be targeted and more land should be made available for public transport. The public must also change their behaviour away from using their car all the time.”
He went on to say that “there is no solution without the investment of money but there are plenty of alternatives to building an expensive tramline.”
He proposed a pilot scheme where two lanes of Strovolos Avenue, one coming into and one leaving Nicosia, would only be used by buses.
“I am against building a tramline along the riverbed as it is a unique place where thousands of citizens of Strovolos and other municipalities enjoy a good quality of life, as it’s a beautiful area. In any case, an environmental impact study must be carried out, before the idea of a tramline can even get off the ground.”
But Yiannis Hadjiosif, senior executive engineer at the Public Works Department of the Ministry of Communication and Works, hit back, saying “it’s a misunderstanding that the government is about to build a new tramline.
In 2003, a joint Austro-Cypriot study entitled Decongestion and enhancement of public transport in Nicosia was undertaken. This was followed up by a further study just over a year later. The studies revealed that “different types of public transport were needed for the capital but that a new tramline would be too expensive and cannot be justified for at least 10 years.”
Hadjiosif added that, “only two per cent of Nicosia’s residents use public transport. If this figure does not rise in those 10 years, then we will have to re-evaluate the possibility of building a tramline, as it may also be cheaper to do in the future.”
Green Party leader, George Perdikis, said yesterday, “we support the idea of a tram to ease traffic congestion but are against building a line in an environmental area. It’s not a good idea to build a line along the Pedieos riverbed and I believe another, more appropriate site should be found.”
