The procedures are underway and there is a will from both the Local Authority and the responsible government agencies for the execution of phase B, the Urban Planning project connecting Franklin Roosevelt Avenue with the coastal road of Limassol, however there are pending procedures that will require a reasonable period of time in order to be processed, so that the construction works can be tendered.
As is well known, the reason why the execution of the 2nd phase of the project has not progressed to date is because it was not possible to move the existing business premises to both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot blocks, which obstruct the new road alignment. The First Phase of the Project was completed and launched in 2018. The hopes that the execution of the 2nd phase of the connection of the beach with Franklin Roosevelt will proceed in the next period of time, were revived after the sale to a foreign investor, of a Turkish Cypriot block for which there was an issue of moving real estate.
The tenant who is in the specific block has not left it and some time ago he appeared before the Refugee Committee of the Parliament, where he presented some claims. A well-informed source told "Entrepreneurial Limassol" that the tenant's claims are now considered a private dispute with the new owner of the lot, which if not resolved out of court, will at some point go to court.
The investor who acquired other plots near the Marina has submitted to the Limassol Municipality a preliminary inquiry for a development that foresees two multi-storey buildings with office facilities, a parking space for 500 vehicles and a square. The Municipal Council, before which the preliminary question was raised in the previous period, postponed on taking a decision on it.
An inter-departmental meeting on the project was recently held at the Department of Town Planning, during which the Department's determination to push forward with its execution was reaffirmed. As the Town Planning Department Officer Arestia Aspridou told us, the regulatory plan (from the department's point of view) for phase B is ready and does not need updating. What needs to be updated and is pending, are the construction plans that are the responsibility of the Department of Public Works. The Minister of Transport, Alexis Vafeadis, told us that in consultation with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance and the Limassol Municipality, instructions have been given to update the construction plans. He added that at this stage the spatial work is being done and they will be sent back to the Public Welfare Authorities for an update. Mr. Vafeadis pointed out that the issue of the two commercial properties affected by the road alignment is pending. Finally, he expressed the estimation that the plans will be updated at the beginning of 2025.
At the same time, the land should be secured since, in addition to the most well-known case to which we have referred, there are other Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot pieces that fall under the new route. The Town Planning Department has requested by letter from the Municipality of Limassol to send all the permits that exist for the plots in question, so that it becomes clear which are legal and which are illegal, and to send the expropriation plans to the Lands Department, in order to proceed with the necessary expropriations.
On the part of the Limassol Municipality, according to a well-informed source, it will take around three months to prepare the voluminous file with the relevant documents and send them to the Town Planning Department. This is given the increased amount of work that the relevant Department of the Municipality is required to carry out during this period, due to the reform of the Local Self-Government and the change in the licensing regime for buildings.
Efforts to implement this very important project for Limassol, which will connect the rapidly developing area between the Navy Marina and the new port with the city center, began more than a decade ago.
