Concern is developing among Limassolians regarding the relocation of the Citizen Service Centre, from its current location at the intersection of Spyros Araouzos seaside road with Dimitris Mitropoulos Street, to Gladstone street, near the busy, light-controlled intersection at "Pentadromos", while the procedures for the project, are said to be moving slowly. Although a decision to move the Centre was taken in the summer of 2019, at this time preliminary plans are still being drawn up for the renovation of the building of the former district offices of the Cooperative Bank (in Gladstone Street), which will house the Centre.
The plans and studies will have to be approved by those involved, in order to start the construction work on the building. The ground floor is destined for the Service Centre, while the first floor will host the district office of the Statistics Department. The Department of Public Administration and Personnel, the Department of Statistics and the Department of Public Works are all involved in the relevant procedures, preparing the plans, which include an elevator and ramps for the disabled.
On July 25, 2019, the Council of Ministers gave the green light to the utilization for this purpose of the former provincial offices of the Cooperative Bank on Gladstone Street, worth €3.1 million.
The relocation of the Citizen Service Centre was deemed imperative by the authorities as the building in which it operates until today is considered unsuitable and the aim was to find a modern building, in a more suitable part of the city, to better serve the citizens.
Officials point out that complaints are repeatedly made by citizens about the problem of access to the area, where the Centre is presently located, which has few parking spaces.
However, concerns about causing traffic congestion are expressed by residents of the area where the Centre will be moved. Dissenters raise the question of where the staff and citizens will park in a central spot that already has a problem of lack of parking spaces and to which access is not easy. Some say that not even a bus passes by this point.
Officials say the building has a parking space at the back and that it attracted people in the past when the Cooperative Bank was operating, but opponents of the decision retort that the parking space is not enough even for the staff and that a Cooperative Bank and a Citizen Service Centre are not the same thing.
