ZAKAKI residents have agreed to allow use of their roads by lorry drivers, until a dirt road adjacent to the suburb is surfaced in a month’s time to accommodate lorries.
The move comes after members of the House Communications Committee joined Limassol Mayor Demetris Kontides in a visit to the area yesterday in an effort to solve the issue of trucks passing through Zakaki.
DIKO deputy Marios Matsakis told the Cyprus Mail that the use of the dirt road was a temporary solution suggested by the mayor and members of the House Communications Committee, until the main by-pass connecting the port with the new Hospital roundabout is constructed.
“Today, we visited the area and we looked at a dirt road that bypasses the built-up area and was used before by trucks carrying stone for the construction of the port,” Matsakis said. “The Zakaki people have accepted this solution, as long as the road is built in one month.”
The Ministry of Communications and Works says that the main by-pass will be constructed within a year; nevertheless, Matsakis said he always took everything with a pinch of salt and that’s why he had suggested the dirt road be surfaced so it could be used for the next three years.
The DIKO MP commented on the absence of specialised routes to and from the port, and blamed it all on Communications Minister Averoff Neophytou.
“The Minister of Communications and Works is to be blamed for this problem,” he said.
“We have a large port and there are no access roads. This government is to blame for what happened in the last 10 years, but of course, other governments are to blame for what has happened in the last 30 years.”
In reply to Neophytou’s comments to the Cyprus Mail last week, that the mayor should be able to solve his own problems, Matsakis said it was not the Mayor’s job to build roads.
“It’s not the mayor’s fault, Averoff is totally wrong. It’s not the mayor’s job to build roads, it has nothing to do with the mayor,” he said. “In fact, this by-pass is not within the boundaries of the Town of Limassol. Neophytou should get out of Rally cars and start doing some work.”
Matsakis was also critical of Police Chief Andreas Angelides’ move last week to partially lift the truck ban ordered by the city council, saying that a solution would have been found much sooner had the Chief not interfered.
“This suggestion about this road was put on the table before Angelides stepped in and we were in the process of sorting this out when out of the blue Angelides showed up and made his decision without consulting anybody,” Matsakis said.
“Technically, he has the right to block roads, but he should have consulted the local authorities before doing so.”
However, Zakaki Muchtar Andreas Demetriades said yesterday that Paros Street would be closed to lorries until schools shut for the Easter holidays and said that during the break lorries would be allowed access only with a police escort.
The president of the Hauliers’ Association, Andreas Kokou, said he was not certain the dirt road would be surfaced exactly as promised, adding he hoped lorries would be able to use the road without any problems.
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.
