MPs vote to freeze Limassol cycling lane budget

A handful of parties that voted in favour of a cycling lane in Misiaouli and Kavazoglou street in Limassol have decided to freeze the budget that would implement the project in a clearly populist move ahead of presidential elections, a municipal councilor said on Friday.
Elias Ioakim, councilor for Green Limassol, affiliated with the Green Party, told the Cyprus Mail that all parties had unilaterally voted in favour of implementing an EU co-funded project with a €5.2 million budget to build the path.
It has been contested by business owners who say that the plans, as they currently stand, will negatively affect their work.
During Wednesday’s discussion of the state budget, Akel, Diko, Edek, the Solidarity Movement and the Citizens Alliance all voted to freeze funds allocated towards the project.
This means that when the time comes for the money to be put to use, it will need the consent of the House finance committee.
Ioakim, in a Facebook statement branded the action ‘absolute populism for the sake of a handful of potential votes’.
“This only happens in Cyprus. The people of Limassol will judge accordingly.”
Ioakim told the Cyprus Mail that presidential hopeful and Diko leader Nicolas Papadopoulos had visited residents and business owners in Misiaouli and Kavazoglou last month.
“This is obviously a pre-election promise,” Ioakim said.
Diko MP Christiana Erotokritou however completely denied the charge, stating that the party operates with pluralism.
“There wasn’t a decision that came from the top and everyone had to follow,” she said.
The purpose of MPs voting to freeze the funds stems from the view that residents on the contested street have expressed some serious concerns that authorities need to address, Erotokritou added.
“Elections have nothing to do with it.”
Diko councilor Neophytos Charalambides, matching the tune of the deputy said: “Freezing the funds does not mean we are against the project. We didn’t cut the funds but want the municipality to have the budget approved by the House finance committee to push the mayor to continue discussions with the residents due to the room for improvement the project has.”
Zaharias Athanasiades, a spokesman for the 145 businesses on Misiaouli and Kavazoglou street, hailed the move.
“The municipality now has no other choice but to approach us to seriously discuss how to solve the problems,” he said.
The planned cycling lane will span 550m and be merged as a sidewalk for the remaining stretch of the 1.8km road, Athanasiades said.
It will be bordered by shrubs on the side facing the road to ensure drivers can’t park their cars by driving over the pavement.
This clashes with what their customers have been accustomed to – parking outside the front of the shop.
The plan had previously included the creation of 81 parking spots that have since been increased to 158.
Akel, which carries the second most votes, also denied this was a populist move.
Limassol MP Giorgos Georgiou reiterated that freezing the funds does not mean withdrawing them and said the route they chose was a chance to ‘give dialogue another chance’.

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.