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Paphos Events Archive.
Paphos Seafront Redevelopment by KG, February 2007
Residents of Paphos and visitors alike
cannot fail to have noticed the massive redevelopment of the Kato
Paphos promenade area. In an area that relies on tourism, there was
never going to be a good time to undertake work that was going to
last around five months, but the winter offered the probability of
least disruption to tourism, provided the weather was kind.
Work began in November 2007 and the whole of the promenade from the
Porto Paphos Hotel to the harbour car park was completely closed off
to traffic and pedestrians by a rind of steel barricades.
For the first couple of months most of
the shops and restaurants struggled to stay open behind the
barricades, but by January this became impossible, as work began on
the shop fronts; so those who could, took the opportunity to
refurbish their premises, with only one newsagent remaining open to
date.
The development includes the removal and
relocation of 'To Limanaki' to a new purpose built building closer
to the harbour, and the rebuilding of the protective sea wall. The
latter entailed building a temporary roadway in the sea to allow
heavy machinery to move the huge stone blocks of the new breakwater.
The shop fronts will have a common
appearance with verandas of glass and steel and a footpath that will
not be the former obstacle course. This will have come as a shock to
those traders who have recently and expensively refurbished their
shop fronts, with the Athos Diamonds shop and the Seagull Restaurant
coming in for particular sympathy as both have recently undertaken
complete refits, which have been ripped asunder. It also means that
those premises that have subtly expanded their premises under
enclosed verandas, will have to find somewhere else for their stock,
as those verandas have all been ripped down.
Those restaurants that have lost table
space, will be allowed to rent space in the new pedestrian area
being created.
Vast numbers of stone cobble stones have been imported from China to
provide the new surface for the promenade area, and a team of
Chinese specialists will soon arrive (if indeed they have not
already done so) to lay them over a base of tarmac.
Work is scheduled to be completed by
May, which means that the Carnival procession has had to be
re-routed this year, and will not be ready for the start of the
holiday season at Easter, which for UK visitors is at the end of
March. Easter is celebrated locally at the end of April this year so
there may be some faint hope that the work, which is running ahead
of schedule, may be sufficiently complete to allow tourist access to
the promenade for that important holiday.
The promenade redevelopment is only part
of the story. Further along the coast at Kissonerga, the long
awaited marina development is almost ready to go ahead, and work has
already started on a coastal footpath from the airport to St
Georges, with each local authority along the way responsible for its
section.
Already the Chlorakas section is
complete and work is well under way on the section from the harbour
around the headland near the lighthouse. Work on the footpath is
scheduled to be completed by 2010.
All that is now required to improve the
area for tourism is to round up all those annoying time share touts
and put them on the next plane out of Paphos
Copyright KG 28th February 2008
Paphos Seafront Redevelopment -
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