A SMALL team of Nicosia municipality and Communication Ministry representatives, including two wheelchair bound individuals, yesterday toured the length of Makarios Avenue in order to determine what changes were needed to make the strip more “wheelchair friendly”.
The project, which was recently given full support by Communication and Works Minister Haris Thrasou, is only an interim solution until a pilot project that will totally transform the avenue is put in motion in the next three to five years.
Yesterday’s group included representatives from Nicosia municipality, the Public Works Department, the Town Planning and Housing Department, the Planning Bureau for People with Disabilities and the Technical Committee to Facilitate People with Impediments (TEDEA).
TEDEA representative Demetris Lambrianides yesterday told the Cyprus Mail the purpose of the outing had been to record what needed to be done to improve the state of the pavements to facilitate the disabled.
“Not only will it be wheelchair friendly but changes will also be made to facilitate the blind,” he said.
Lambrianides, who is also president of the Paraplegics Association, said the project would include lowering and widening pavements, using new materials to ensure the paving stones joined properly so as not to catch on the wheels of wheelchairs, special flooring for the blind, and the removal of obstacles such as lamp posts, trees and redundant electricity pylons which blocked the way.
But this was only a temporary solution for the next three to five years until the government had the funds to carry out a large scale reconstruction project, he said.
“To do this, a lot of work needs to be done and it’s very expensive. At the moment, the Ministry does not have the necessary budget. While it is trying to secure the money from the EU it will go ahead with these temporary changes,” he said.
The head of the Ministry’s Planning Bureau for People with Disabilities, Clelia Petridou, said she expected this project to start some time next year.
“We settled on several proposals and now all that remains is to draw up the plans and get approval. I expect we should start working on the project in 2007,” she said.
Petridou also stressed the works would be carried out in stages so as not to affect the trade activity of the capital’s busiest street.
She said: “We aim not to affect the business of Makarios Avenue by ensuring all works are carried out smoothly. At the most they might be affected for a day or two, but we’ll try to make sure it’s as painless as possible.”
