Polis Chrysochous mayor Yiotis Papachristofi on Saturday promised that “major developments” worth at least €100 million will be carried out in the town next year.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, he said these planned projects comprise a planned expansion of the Latchi port, the construction of a new sewerage system, and renovations to the centres of Polis Chrysochous and the village of Prodromi, and to local archaeological sites.

He said that he and his municipality have undertaken “intensive preparation work in previous years” to bring about these projects, and added that with other, larger projects soon to be underway, such as construction the new road connecting Polis Chrysochous and Paphos, “the area will be at the epicentre of the island’s development”.

This forthcoming development, he said, will “reverse the wave” of young people from the area moving to other parts of Cyprus and abroad in search of better opportunities.

“Our goal is for Polis Chrysochous and the surrounding area to have a proper image with quality infrastructure, so that we can attract people and develop in terms of tourism. This is the only way we can create jobs, develop tourism, while also helping the livestock and agriculture sectors, because they will also sell their products,” he said.

As such, he said, these planned developments “will help all sectors”.

The government had earlier this month announced a new tender for the first phase of the road which will connect Paphos and Polis Chrysochous.

The first phase will connect the village of Ayia Marinouda, just outside Paphos, and the village of Stroumbi, which is located roughly halfway between the road’s two endpoints – a distance of around 15.5 kilometres.

The road is, according to the government, to be built with two lanes of traffic and one crawler lane “where required, with the prospect of construction of the other two lanes in a future phase”.

As such, the road will not, at least at first, be a dual carriageway.

The tender’s cost has been estimated at €90.2 million plus value added tax, while the project is expected to take 30 months to complete.

If a bidder is found, construction will continue where it left off last year when the government cancelled a contract with Greek construction company Intrakat.