Nicosia residents happy with services provided

By Jean Christou
The majority of residents who live within the Nicosia Municipality are generally happy with the services provided but complained about parking, bad pavements, road cleanliness, traffic and the state of Eleftheria Square, a survey revealed on Tuesday.
Presenting the results at a news conference, Nicosia Mayor Constantinos Yiorkadjis said 55 per cent of those polled in December thought things had improved in the capital in the past two years.
And though there were complaints, the number of dissatisfied residents was lower than those who were satisfied with the level of services provided, particularly garbage collection where 80 per cent were happy with the way it operated.
On the other end of that scale 66 per cent were happy with the capital’s cultural offerings, and information and services clocked in at a 58 per cent of satisfied residents.
Some 84 per cent of those polled also acknowledged that Nicosia municipality had done a lot to revitalise and increase foot traffic to the city centre over the past two years. Around 77 per cent believed the capital was a safe place to live and 74 per cent said they were proud to be Nicosians.
The municipality lost brownie points however on its infrastructural projects with 40 per cent not agreeing with the way they were handled, but support was still high at 32 per cent. Almost 15 per cent griped about the state of Eleftheria Square. Nearly a quarter complained about a lack of parking spaces and 17 per cent about road maintenance. Some 12 per cent of those over 65 said they were bothered by the lack of pavements and 15 per cent by lack of cleanliness.
Yiorkadjis said the municipality was already moving in the direction of correcting the reasons for the criticisms, though he was pleased with the outcome of the survey.
“We are also happy for another reason; because the perception of citizens about the areas where more should be done, converge largely with the priorities we have set for the next while,” the mayor said. “These findings give us the strength to continue the work started for a more economically viable, more functional, clean and friendly city, a city planning, not only for today but also for tomorrow.”
He said as of this year, more employees would be assigned to street cleaning, and that loans had been secured from European banks to improve the roads and drainage within the municipality.
There would be projects on 57 streets in the Pallouriotissa, Kaimakli and other areas, he said. The Eleftheria Square contract had been signed in December, work began on January 14, and would be finished in 64 weeks. The municipality had also secured a contract for 13 minibuses for the old town, and a new parking project was in the works. Yiorkadjis said the municipality had already created seven new parking areas with a total capacity of 230 spaces.
Referring to local government reform, the mayor warned against “hasty and drastic changes” that might cause problems for residents although according to the poll residents in the majority would not be adverse to merging with a nearby municipality such as Ayios Dhometios.
The survey was carried out by Pulse Market Research over the phone. Just over 800 Nicosia municipality residents were polled.

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