‘Tsirion stands are safe’ says municipality

By George Psyllides

LIMASSOL’S Tsirion stadium was structurally sound, the town’s municipality said on Wednesday, censuring those who “scare mongered” causing unnecessary distress.

The municipality said its civil engineer, along with the experts hired by the stadium’s authorities from the office of Themos Demetriou and Associates, visited Tsirion on Tuesday, following a recent announcement by the island’s technical chamber ETEK concerning the state of the spectator stands.

“Both the report, and the public statements of the office, emphasise beyond any doubt that there is no question regarding the stadium’s structural adequacy,” a statement from the municipality said.

It had been determined during the visit, that the parts of the stand displaying some deterioration where located at the lower tier, which was exposed to rain.

The cause of the deterioration was water accumulation combined with salt, the municipality said.

It added that engineers suggested repairs as part of maintenance work and further improvement to various structures in a bid to extend its lifespan by ten years without significant interventions.

The municipality said repairs were already underway and were scheduled to be completed by April 25.

The information had been given to parliament recently and statements were made to the media, it added.

The municipality said it was taken aback by the emergence of the matter at a moment that coincides with the end of the football championship.

“We disagree and censure those who scare monger and cause unnecessary distress through reckless statements, without knowing the substance and details of the case,” the municipality said.

Earlier this week, the Cyprus Football Federation banned spectators from games until it had received assurances that the stadium was safe.

The decision came at a critical point in the Cyprus league as title favourites AEL and contenders Apollon, which both play in the Tsirion, enter the final stretch, with seven games remaining.

The next game at Tsirion is scheduled for next Wednesday, April 23.

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.