Major market players join forces to bring the centre of Nicosia back to life

With the aim of Nicosia, and the city centre in particular, regaining its lost glory and becoming a pole of attraction again, both for investments and for home ownership, the ‘Nicosia-Capital of Cyprus’ Initiative has been established.

Large groups of companies and businesses that have a presence in the city centre are participating, all while making a significant contribution to the business and, by extension, economic development of the capital.

The Initiative includes large groups, such as C.A. Papaellinas, Cyfield, ZARA, Columbia Restaurants, Zorbas, as well as the Aloupas Jewellers. Individuals, shopkeepers, lawyers, architects and other professionals are also taking part.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Initiative is Christos Papaellinas (C.A. Papaellinas Ltd) and the Vice Chairman is George Chrysochos (Cyfield Ltd), while the members of the Board of Directors are Rina Houlioti and Haris Houliotis (representatives of the ZARA Group), Rea Ioannidou (representative of the Costas Papaellinas Group), George Demetriades (representative of the Columbia Restaurants Group), Michalis Antoniou (representative of the Zorbas Group) and Phivos Aloupas (Aloupas Jewellers).

The Director of the Initiative is Iacovos Zachariades (pictured above).

"We are an Initiative that aims to contribute and help, so that with the opinions, suggestions, but also with financial support - always within the framework of the capabilities of its members - the development of the centre of Nicosia can progress and regain its lost glory," Iacovos Zachariades, told InBusinessNews.

"We appreciate," he continued, "that the private sector should contribute to this effort, but it will certainly not replace the state, which has its own responsibility, duty and jurisdiction."

Towards this end, namely for the centre of Nicosia to regain its lost glory, the Initiative a few months ago submitted to the Mayor of Nicosia, Charalambos Prountzos, an extensive memorandum with its positions and opinions, where, among other things, it recommends the preparation of a techno-economic study that will focus on increasing visitors to the city centre, which it will finance in full.

The Nicosia Municipality views this proposal positively, and has already established a special committee that will determine the guidelines along which the study will proceed, so that it can be prepared, examined and the implementation of the actions it will propose can begin as soon as possible.

The city centre’s number one problem

"We consider that the issue of visitor numbers in the center of Nicosia is urgent and requires immediate action to be resolved. We believe that it is the number one problem, the 'mother’ problem facing the region, with commercial, economic, but also, above all, social implications," Iacovos Zachariades emphasised in his statements to InBusinessNews.

As he explained, the reasons why the number of visitors is not as expected are not one, nor two in number, but very many and have come together in recent years.

"Whether these were omissions, whether they were wrong decisions, or whether they were bad, incomplete or delayed actions, resulting in us reaching the point of the picture we have today," he pointed out.

According to Zachariades, a key role in shaping the current image of the centre of Nicosia was played by the so-called, in his words, decentralisation policy, which was promoted to address, among other things, traffic problems.

"Instead of finding solutions to the traffic problem through regulations, policies, projects and reliable public transport promotion networks, they began to push services out of the city centre, recklessly and indiscriminately."

Essentially, the ‘overflowing bucket’ of the centre, in which the heart of Nicosia beat with administrative services, government services, businesses, recreational activities, health services, etc., suddenly over the past two decades has been almost completely emptied," he emphasised.

Examples in this regard are, among other things, the Old GSP Stadium, the general hospital, theatres, cinemas, administrative services and administration centres of semi-state, banking and private organisations, ministries, have left, while the number of permanent residences has also shown a large decrease.

"All of this, together with the 2013 crisis, the high rents that discouraged or even drove away investors, the inactive, sold-off or abandoned large buildings that housed a large number of workers and visitors, the operation of large shopping centres within the urban area of ​​Nicosia and the long duration of public works, such as Eleftherias Square and the redevelopment of the commercial triangle in the centre, led to the current image of the heart of the city, which must change," Zachariades emphasised.

Making the centre a destination

Asked what can be done to reverse the situation, the director of the "Nicosia-Capital of Cyprus" Initiative underlined that the offering to the visitor must be improved and strengthened in order to create a dynamic of visits and make the centre a destination in its own right.

"For us, the visitor is both the businessman and the worker in the city centre, he is also the tourist, he is also the visitor who will go for entertainment and the visitor who will go shopping and finally the permanent and temporary resident of the centre," he pointed out.

Suggestions and proposals to Prountzos

To this end, according to Zachariades, the Initiative submitted an extensive memorandum to the Mayor of Nicosia, Charalambos Prountzos, during a meeting with him, with specific suggestions and proposals.

Briefly, the Initiative's positions regarding visitor numbers focus on four pillars, namely:

• Cultural pillar: With rich cultural, social and commercial activities, the centre of Nicosia can become a destination in its own right and a valuable place to visit, satisfying the social, commercial and recreational needs of the visitor.
• Modern shopping and entrepreneurship centre: Creating the conditions, networks and incentives, utilising all the characteristics of a smart city, so that the business heart of the country beats in the centre of Nicosia, satisfying the business and consumer needs of the visitor.
• Green centre: Environmentally friendly with all the elements of green development, an open park rich in greenery with plants, trees and flowers that will aesthetically attract the interest of every visitor, and which will also be a destination for homeownership.
• Lifting the aesthetic image and identity of the centre: Upgrading the image and identity of the modern centre of Nicosia into a modern commercial and cultural centre with main elements of Cypriot art, greenery and digital image and technology to create a dynamic proposal to attract visitors.

Meeting with the President if necessary

Asked to refer to the role that the state can or could play in the entire effort,. Zachariades indicated that the state must also give importance to Nicosia, just as - as he rightly put it - it gave importance to the coastal cities, supporting the tourism industry.

"Now is the time for Nicosia to raise more funding and attract investment to shape its own offering," he said, adding that "if Nicosia manages to do so, we believe that the appropriate conditions will be created both to attract investors and to take off."

Asked whether the Initiative will seek a meeting with the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, Zachariades answered in the affirmative.

"The state authorities bear the responsibility and obligation to address the current situation. We intend to make contacts with the Government as well. We expect the Nicosia Municipality to define the guidelines for the techno-economic study and immediately afterwards we will request meetings, first with the competent Ministries and Ministers and then, if necessary, with the President of the Republic," he concluded.

The Board of Directors of the Initiative

• President: Christos Papaellinas (C.A. Papaellinas Ltd)
• Vice President: George Chrysochos (Cyfield Ltd)
• Members: Rina Houlioti and Haris Houliotis (representatives of the ZARA Group), Rea Ioannidou (representative of the Costas Papaellinas Group), George Demetriades (representative of the Columbia Restaurants Group), Michalis Antoniou (representative of the Zorbas Group), Phivos Aloupas (Aloupas Jewellers).

(Source: InBusinessNews)