The Agios Athanasios municipality is in the final stage of evaluating the applications it received for the recruitment of a Civil Engineer with a fixed-term contract, for the coordination of the "Vathkeias" linear park project in its area of jurisdiction. Mayor Marinos Kyriakou expects the first plans will have been drawn up by around mid-May. According to the Mayor, final plans and studies for the construction of the park, on the borders of Agios Athanasios, will be drawn up in 2023, with implementation scheduled for 2024 The budget for the project is €4 million and this will be co-financed by the EU. A generalized masterplan for the project had been drawn up earlier.
The new project will cover the bed of "Vathkeias" in two sections, on the one hand up to the Linopetra traffic lights in the south, (in continuation of the constructed part of the Mesa Geitonia linear park) and on the other hand, up to the bridge that leads to the Grammar School to the north. Contributing towards the construction cost will be a sum from the large development "Platinum Tower", in lieu of a green area, in a block that adjoins Agios Athanasios Avenue and Evheltonos Ioannidis Street.
The estimated cost of the "Platinum Tower" is €6 million and both planning permit and the demolition permit of the existing building have been issued, while the issuance of the building permit is pending. The first phase of the construction of the Linear Park, along the bed of the "Vathkeias" river in Mesa Geitonia, four kilometers long, was completed at the end of 2014. This covers the area from the core of the Municipality of Mesa Geitonia, to the southern side of Spyros Kyprianou Ave.
The second phase that is being promoted now is within the municipal boundaries of Agios Athanasios, while there is also a small section within the Limassol municipality. Upon completion, the project will pave the way for a pedestrian and cycle path network of many kilometers, since it will be connected to the coastal road and will reach, through the Garyllis linear park, as far as Polemidia.
