English Q+A time frank and informative
Larnaca mayor – Andreas Louroutziatis – gave a frank and informative talk in English at the end of January, where he revealed his personal goals for the town and answered the audience's questions on a number of topics.
The 'Talk of The Town' event was organised by the Larnaca Parents Network (LPN) -which is a non-profit organisation that aims to provide parents and caregivers of Larnaca with events, advice and information. Taking place at the Civil Marriages hall, the packed audience included citizens of all nationalities and age groups, with primary focus on the town's lack of hotels and major development plans such as the proposed marina and Piale Pashia road.
The mayor began his talk by explaining the vision that he and the council set of a Larnaca that is a "vibrant European city with traditional character; a city of choice – where people consciously choose to live…the idea is to develop the city and create this image of a quality of life."
With this in mind, a variety of projects have been set in motion with the aim of improving infrastructure, increasing greenery, facilitating mobility and transportation, and the biggest vision of all – the creation of a unified promenade starting from Dhekelia Road and running all the way through Finikoudes to Mackenzie, without interruption.
The unified promenade would require the removal of the refineries from Dhekelia Road, as well as the redesign and upgrading of the marina to take place. The marina project has been in the pipeline for a while now and has not yet been able to get off the ground. If a serious investor is not found by the end of March, the project will be null and void, and in this event, the government would push to relocate the hydrocarbons from Limassol to the site of the marina - an option that the municipality does not endorse.
Whilst either option would bring money and jobs to Larnaca, the mayor prefers the first option over the second: "Our priority is the removal of the oil storage facility tanks from the beach so we can create a unified beach and we have issued a Termination Order which we are waiting for the Interior Minster to sign. We have interest for the marina from a group of serious investors with a proven capability in operating marinas in their country and the Middle East. We prefer the option of the marina and a unified coast. With the hydrocarbons, we would simply be replacing one heavy industry (the oil storage tanks) with another kind of heavy industry."
When asked about the lack of hotels in Larnaca, that negatively affect tourism numbers, the mayor admitted that this is indeed a major issue: "If we had an offer for a hotel I would guarantee you that the municipality would roll out the red carpet!" He added that the only areas that could situate new hotels would be the area currently occupied by the storage tanks once it was freed-up, and the new marina – if the project were to go ahead.
The lack of hotels also affects the wedding tourism trade and at present the municipality conducts around 900 civil weddings per year, which is not only lower than other towns, but for which many are couples who are only in the town for one day to get married. Larnaca's lack of high-star and resort hotels prevents couples having big weddings in the town, and the mayor noted that "we have no 5-star hotels within our city centre".
Overall, the message conveyed to the LPN was one of a determined effort to improve Larnaca, combined with a roadmap of specific actions that will make Larnaca a vibrant city that offers quality of life and sustainable growth.
First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly 08/02/14
