Traffic congestion needs to be resolved
This is the number of all motor vehicles registered in the past six years that are rumbling down bumpy highways, evading potholes and generally guzzling more gas into the Cyprus air than ever before.
Joining the European Union brought a lot of benefits to the Cypriot consumer, chief among them being cheaper cars with an average one vehicle for every person living on this island.
Yet nothing is done to alleviate the serious issues of congestion that results in all aspects of pollution – fumes, noise and general ugliness.
Which is why we are disappointed to hear for the umpteenth time that this or that organization “wants the government to solve the traffic problem” but does not have a specific plan to put forward.
This week saw the Nicosia Chamber of Commerce calling on the state to resolve a number of issues, ranging from affordable interest rates for businesses, to developing the abandoned Philoxenia and the Conference Centre into a 5-star leisure centre with mega-conference facilities.
Is there room for another luxury hotel in Nicosia? And once we build one, will it be viable? It will simply pit the capital against the coastal towns, whose hotels rely on conference tourism.
What the capital and all other towns need are better roads, smooth flow of traffic and ample parking, as public transportation here is admittedly worse than in most parts of Africa.
To his credit, the president of the Nicosia Chamber said that the government’s decision to erect the gigantic Ministry of Finance building without ample provision for car parking was “criminal”, at a time when the local authorities are exerting pressure on developers of new blocks to more than satisfy their own parking needs.
Then again, where was the Nicosia Chamber when the plans for the Finance Ministry building were being drawn up? Surely, the Chambers of all towns comprise of people who have the political clout or leverage to get the right message across to the government. Why, then, blame inaction of the past solely on the civil servants, who we know are not the brightest and most creative minds when it comes to planning roads?
Repeating (to the rate of boredom) that Cyprus needs to have bright and shiny buildings when it hosts the EU presidency in 2012, regardless if most projects will become white elephants, is a poor excuse for lack of vision and absence of planning minds.
The municipalities should allow the creation of decent, multi-storey parking lots that will provide for a town’s needs for the next 15-20 years and incentives should be given to developers accordingly.
If mayors are stubborn and adamant in not developing such projects, then their colleagues of perimeter towns should lure the large corporations with hundreds of employees to their municipal boundaries. At least removing some of the thousands of cars driving into the town centres should solve part of the problem…
