Plan to centralise government offices at State Fair grounds

THE GOVERNMENT has reached a “final and irrevocable” agreement to move various government departments and Ministries to new premises to be built in the grounds of the State Fair in Nicosia, Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis said yesterday.

Sylikiotis said that the Council of Ministers had decided to end the previous agreement covering the renting of the state fair grounds and bring in a new agreement which reallocates a large proportion of the 262,000 square metres of land currently under the State Fair Authority’s control.

The state fair has been located in the Nicosia suburb of Makedonitissa since the early 1970s. Currently, it has 30,000 square metres of indoor space and 10,000 square metres of outdoor exhibition space, set in grounds covering some 220,000 square metres. Under the new agreement, the State Fair Authority will be assigned 48,000 square metres, allowing it to go ahead with its own plans to create a new exhibition and conference centre. It will rent a further 60,000 square metres at market rates.

The Minister said that the Town Planning Department has already been set the task of drawing up a master plan for the whole area. He said that the decision has been taken in principle – further detailed discussions will take place – that the first government departments to move to the new premises will be the Nicosia District offices of the Land Registry, Town Planning Department, the District authority and the Inland Revenue.

Sylikiotis said the four named Nicosia departments are currently paying large amounts of money to rent premises. Besides this, he said that he had recently discussed the location of the Communications and Works premises with its Minister Nicos Nicolaides, as well as those of other ministries which are currently rented. This prompted the decision to hold a ministerial-level meeting and to move towards drawing up a master-plan for making best use of the State Fair grounds.

He said there is also a proposal from public sector trade union PASYDY for it to fund a crèche facility for civil servants on the new site, and the aim will also be to tie in the new plan with Nicolaides’ stated intention to create a central bus station on the state fair site.

Sylikiotis said that construction and the eventual move by the government departments to their new premises will be carried out in prioritised stages.

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