Government borrows €80 million for road works

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) yesterday signed an €80 million loan agreement with the government for the expansion and improvement of expressway road networks.

The EIB has more than doubled its lending to Cyprus last year, from €202 million in 2009 to €460 million in 2010, EIB’s Vice-president, Plutarchos Sakellaris said.

Funding in 2011 will be “significantly higher” than the €214 million five-year average of the last five years, Sakellaris added.

Last year, supporting the ‘green economy’ in Cyprus, EIB gave €200 million to the EAC for its electricity supply network, €140 to the Finance Ministry and €30 million to Limassol for sewerage works and a further €40 million given jointly to Nicosia Municipality and the Finance Ministry for civil infrastructure projects. To support middle-sized businesses in Cyprus, Co-operative Central bank also received €50 million.

As part of the new €80 million agreement, the Interior Ministry is planning four separate infrastructure projects, three of which involve road works: on the GSP roundabout, adding lanes to Nicosia’s entry highway and connecting Limassol’s harbour with the Limassol-Paphos highway in order to alleviate congestion.

In addition to EIB borrowing, Cyprus received €265 million from Council of Europe’s Development Bank in 2010.

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.