Nicosia needs public transport not more roads

NO MORE roads are needed in Nicosia while public transport must be improved if the city is to avoid decline, a panel of experts concluded yesterday at a conference on town planning.

“Stop building roads! More roads generate more traffic,” civil engineer Andreas Markides warned.

A multitude of cars parked everywhere and anywhere in the city, a lack of green space, pavements and pedestrian areas are also plaguing Nicosia, Markides said.

In Nicosia, 98 per cent of people get around in their own car according to Markides. If authorities came down hard on illegal parking, this would generate a lot of income which could be ploughed into public transport, Markides added.

Most speakers pointed out that part of the problem for urban planning is the tension between the state and the private sector (e.g. property developers): which has created “a battlefield for land”, while the creation of malls on the city outskirts goes against Nicosia’s local plan “to preserve and upgrade the town centre,” former Cyprus Technical Chamber president and architect Nicos Mesarites said.

“But there was simply no space to build a huge mall within the city,” he added.

Another problem is the lack of communication between different state bodies.

“There is a deep suspicion between municipalities and central government,” former Finance Minister and president of the Friends of Nicosia Association Michalis Sarris said.

The series of lectures were jointly organised by Friends of Nicosia Association and the Bank of Cyprus at the bank’s cultural foundation.

A number of different experts from the UK, Germany and Cyprus participated in the discussion which involved architects, civil engineers, economists and civil servants.

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