The EUR400 budgeted plan is to face-lift the mountain areas, as the government seeks to reverse the trend of their abandonment for urban centres.

 Nicos Anastasiades, presentiment, Republic of Cyprus,  said that  highly significant road network projects are underway, serving to improve connectivity between urban centres and the countryside, and particularly mountain communities.

Anastasiades said permanent residents of communities outside urban centres can now apply for support grants, with the new scheme covering 105 communities and foreseeing an annual allowance of EUR400 for residents of communities located at least 40 km from an urban centre.

The allowance increases gradually depending on distance, Anastasiades said, reaching up to EUR600 per family. Permanent residents of the 110 mountain communities with an altitude of more than 600 m are also eligible to support allowance.

Anastasiades said the goal is to reverse the trend of abandonment of rural and mountain areas, with the government’s plans to benefit a total of 386 communities that correspond to around 70 percent of all communities in government-controlled areas.

Savvas Perdios, deputy minister of tourism, Cyprus,  said that there has been interest in buying existing hotels in the mountain areas, which are either closed or under-operated, as well as in buying land from both Cypriot and foreign investors in the mountains and the countryside for the construction of new hotel units.