Old GSP to get park facelift in Cyprus capital

* Will it avoid fate of Zaha Hadid's Eleftheria Square plans?

The Old GSP stadium in Nicosia will undergo a much-need facelift with the capital finally getting a central park. The Nicosia Municipality announced that the firm of Yiannis Kizis and Associates with Constantinos Kizis, Efthymios Doungas and Gregoris Patsalosavis won the architectural competition to give the Old GSP area a general facelift, following a public outcry to abandon plans to build a 40-storey complex there.
Town Hall is still facing criticism over Iraq-born architect Zaha Hadid's controversial project to redevelop Eleftheria Square which will cost 13.2 mln euros and should be completed by December 2013. However, plans may be shelved after the municipal election in December when incumbent Eleni Mavrou is widely expected to lose due to lack of support from a wider political platform.
Meanwhile, the Solomou Square bus depot is expected to be ready this month, at a cost of 4.85 mln, while the fate of the new Nicosia Town Hall, due to be completed in September 2013 at a cost of 11.8 mln euros is also uncertain.