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Kato Paphos Redevelopment - March Update
Another month has passed and the work
continues apace at the Kato Paphos redevelopment site. The only
interesting new fact to report is that the Chinese craftsmen, who it
had been mooted would be travelling to Cyprus to lay the hundreds of
thousands of granite blocks, failed to materialise. Press reports
suggest that there were insurmountable difficulties relating to
their visas. Instead a team of Bulgarian workers will be laying the
blocks.
Work has in fact started and only just
over a week into the task, it is already beginning to take shape.
Sensibly the limited access to the site by the public which had
become a regular Sunday feature has been stopped, both to preserve
the site and to avoid injury to pedestrians.
With approximately two months left until the development is
scheduled to finish, there is no sign of work having started in the
shop fronts, and at the present rate of progress, it will take all
of that time to lay the blocks. Work is now going ahead on seven
days a week, so while on the 23rd of March, it was Easter Sunday for
Catholic Europe, and for many of the tourists visiting the island,
Bulgaria, like Cyprus, has an Orthodox Christian tradition and work
pressed on regardless. Easter here is of course at the end of April.
In addition to the hundreds of pallets
of blocks that had been stacked on the promenade, additional stocks
are gradually taking over the car park. A majority of these blocks
will form a cobbled pedestrian area, where at least some of the area
will be made available for restaurants to provide on-street
catering, much as the harbour area is currently cluttered with
tables and chairs.
The roadway will have one-way traffic,
and indications are that traffic in this area will be kept to a
minimum. Whether this remains the case in the face of the inevitable
protests it will bring from the powerful taxi drivers lobby, we will
have to wait a little longer to see
KG
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