A €2.26 million contract has been signed for the repair, maintenance and reinforcement of a culvert beneath Digenis Akritas Avenue in Nicosia, in a project aimed at addressing decades of deterioration and improving safety.
The contract, worth €2,259,499 plus VAT, will run for 28 weeks.
It was signed on Friday by Nicosia District Local Government Organisation (EOA) president Constantinos Yiorkadjis and Costas Rousias, director of C. Roushas Trading and Development Ltd.
Two-thirds of the project's cost will be funded by the state, while the remaining third will be covered by the EOA through stormwater fees paid by property owners.
Work to address corrosion and deterioration
The project concerns the repair, maintenance and reinforcement of a rectangular culvert beneath Digenis Akritas Avenue, along the Vasilopotamos-Kotsirkas section of Nicosia Municipality, between the junctions with Kallipoleos and Larnakos avenues.
The culvert was constructed around 50 years ago beneath Digenis Akritas Avenue, enclosing the Kotsirkas river.
According to the EOA, the structure will be repaired and reinforced using modern and innovative reinforced-concrete methods.
The works are intended to address corrosion and deterioration that have developed over the decades and have affected the safety of vehicles travelling above the culvert.
EOA targets key flood-risk areas
Yiorkadjis said the EOA's objective was to use annual revenue of around €2 million to intervene each year at key problem areas across Nicosia district.
The aim, he said, was to improve infrastructure conditions and reduce the likelihood of flooding.
He added that work on the Kotsirkas culvert would be followed next year by interventions in the Archangelos area.
Yiorkadjis also said the organisation was seeking to take forward projects that had remained under the responsibility of the central government for decades.
He called for such projects either to proceed immediately or for the necessary resources to be transferred to the Nicosia EOA so that it could implement them.
Among the projects he cited were flood protection works in Dali, the Engomi retention ponds and works along Navarinou Avenue.
Flooding now occurring several times a year
Nicosia Mayor Charalambos Prountzos said the Kotsirkas project, together with the other works outlined by Yiorkadjis, would provide practical solutions to serious flooding problems.
He noted that flooding was no longer an issue occurring once every five years, but was now being experienced four to five times a year.
The authorities said the wider programme of targeted infrastructure interventions was intended to strengthen flood resilience and improve the safety and functionality of key areas across Nicosia.
Source: CNA
