At the initiative of the President of the Republic, a special meeting was held to inform the Council of Ministers about the implementation of the national strategy for Troodos and the development of mountain communities, Commissioner for the Development of Mountain Communities, Charalambos Christofinas has announced, noting that specific decisions were also taken.
As he said in his statements after the Council of Ministers on 17 July, decisions have been made regarding the development of the road network, the strengthening of the mountain area schools and the upgrading of primary care and health provision for the inhabitants of the mountainous regions.
Christofinas noted that it has already been decided to upgrade the Troodos regional hospital for 2020-2025 with an amount of approximately €1.8 million, while an upgrade program is being implemented for 2024 with a total cost of €680,000.
In the context of upgrading both the tourist product and the sports infrastructure of Troodos, Christofinas continued, it has been decided to upgrade the Glafcos Clerides Centre in Agros and it has already been decided to create a high-quality sports centre in Kyperounda, a development of the order of €1.8 million.
“At the same time, we have launched other developments and interventions in other sports centres in the region, such as Spilia, Ayios Ioannis, Kyvides and Palaichori and with these recommendations I think we will be able to give the young people and the rest of the population wanting to engage in sports more opportunities to do so,” he added.
We have discussed all the problems that have been created and accumulated in mountain communities, he continued, and in this context, in cooperation with all the ministries, various actions are being promoted to implement the programme so that we can be closer to the citizens.
Christofinas mentioned that it has already been decided to create a bus station in Saittas, a project which has already begun to be planned by the Department of Public Works and scheduled to be implemented by 2026.
At the same time, he said, such a station is being planned in the Nicosia area. This station, he noted, will connect Limassol’s mountain areas with the airports and the Port of Limassol. We judged, he added, that it was a necessity to serve not only our general population but also students.
At the same time, Christofinas said, we are the rural tourism product is also being strengthened, a requirement of all rural tourism operators.
“We have gone ahead and discussed strengthening the capacity of communities to help fight fires with specific measures that will be announced in the near future,” he added.
Christofinas said that the major projects connecting the cities with the mountain communities are being implemented, such as the third phase of the Astromeritis-Evrychou road and the road to Palaichori, while he noted that the second section of the Denia-Astromeritis road will proceed soon.
“The development of mountain communities is not a one-way street, it does not concern only one Ministry, it is a holistic approach that concerns all Ministries on a horizontal level. That’s why these meetings are held and we try in this context to discuss all the issues concerning the mountain communities to give the countryside what it deserves,” he added.
(Source: InBusinessNews)
