The Scientific and Technical Chamber of Cyprus (ETEK) has written to President Nikos Christodoulides asking him to personally take charge of reviving central Nicosia, and has submitted a full implementation plan.
In its letter, ETEK said the upgrade of the capital’s centre is a matter of national importance, with direct effects on economic resilience, social cohesion, quality of life, housing, entrepreneurship and the country’s image.
ETEK President Constantinos Constanti said the revival of central Nicosia “cannot be achieved through isolated projects or piecemeal regulation.” He said a unified strategy, coordinated implementation and continuous political oversight are needed, along with a clear political mandate at the highest level, inter-ministerial coordination, committed resources and institutionalised monitoring.
The report ETEK submitted to the President argues that past plans for the centre have stalled or been delivered piecemeal not because of a shortage of ideas but because no mechanism exists to lock in implementation. It names specific examples, including plans to house three Ministries in the Archigrammateia and Faneromeni area, which it says have not been pursued, and the old GSP site, which it says has not been functionally integrated into the daily life of the centre.
The report also criticises standalone traffic decisions on Makarios Avenue made without the accompanying package of public transport, perimeter parking, last-mile solutions and commercial activation needed to make them viable. Without that package, the report says, an intervention such as pedestrianisation becomes a point of confrontation rather than a catalyst for revival.
To address this, the report proposes a Delivery Office for the urban centre, operating under a named director and a political mandate from the President and three relevant Ministers. The office would maintain a single programme of works and actions, run quarterly delivery reviews, manage risks and delays, and produce an annual public account of progress.
The governance structure proposed sits across three levels: political mandate and inter-ministerial coordination at the top, the Delivery Office in the middle, and thematic operational teams in the field covering inactive properties, spatial-project maturation, and identity and activities programming.
Makarios Avenue is proposed as the first visible pilot of the delivery mechanism. Within six months, the report says, a coordinated package can be launched covering shading and greenery for microclimate, upgraded street furniture, lighting and signage, coordinated opening hours and a programme of events, targeted short-stay parking arrangements that do not encourage through traffic, reorganised bus flows, and pop-ups and temporary uses to activate ground floors.
The report says the Makarios pilot should be designed to produce data and lessons for the rest of the centre, with evaluation indicators covering pedestrian flows, dwell time, access, public space use, ground-floor activation and market response.
Beyond the pilot, the report proposes two long-term spatial backbones requiring multi-year planning: the moat and perimeter arc as a unified linear park connecting Paphos Gate and Famagusta Gate, and a network of express routes linking residential neighbourhoods to major employers, education and cultural poles, public transport hubs and perimeter parking.
The proposals come out of a Structured Democratic Dialogue workshop ETEK held with Nicosia Municipality on 22 and 25 July 2025, which produced 103 proposals ranked using interpretive structural modelling. ETEK said it remains available to contribute to both the participatory governance mechanism and further technical work on the measures.
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