Republic of Cyprus Second Voluntary National Report - Sustainable development goals

85 GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES Proposed Local Government Reform • As Local Administration faces unprecedented challenges and operational difficulties, an extensive Reform is promoted that aims to provide for less, but stronger and more capable local authorities that live up to the expectations of the people and the demands of the modern era. • Three law bills have been drafted incorporating the main objectives of the reform. Some of these main objectives include the reduction of the number of municipalities to ensure viability, the creation of community clusters for the provision of centralised services, the introduction of a new model of administration, the transfer of new competences from central Government and its decentralised units to the municipalities to increase the range of services at a lower cost where possible, and improvement in efficiency of water supply, sewerage and solid waste management by creating district organisations to undertake this task. • The reform is expected to yield significant savings, ranging from €30 to €50 million. National Strategy for the Development of Moun- tain Communities (NSDMC) • NSDMC was adopted in October 2019 and aims to revitalise the region of the Troodos Mountain communities by creating jobs, promoting tourism, and supporting agricultural and cottage industries. • The strategy envisions 250 actions to be taken until the year 2030 for boosting the quality of life and promoting sustainable development in mountain communities for 30,000 residents. It is expected that by 2023 approximately 140 short-term actions will be implemented. Integrated Sustainable Development • During the period January 2017-December 2020, Urban Local Authorities were granted a total of €115 million to implement 25 projects through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the context of Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Plans/Strategies for the main historic centres of the four urban municipalities which still suffer from broad degradation and socioeconomic challenges including abandoned commercial areas and houses, poverty and unemployment, inadequate sustainable transport systems, insufficient parking spaces and limited green spaces. • Nineteen similar projects, of a total of €15 million were promoted for implementation in the rural areas through the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). • The projects highlight urban mobility actions like footpaths and safe access for all, including persons with disabilities and the elderly. The implementation of these and similar kind of projects will continue and will be included in the new programming programme for the period 2021-2027. • Cyprus is currently updating its “Strategy for the sustainable development of rural communities and municipalities” in an effort to assess the needs and challenges of rural communities, and identify their assets and potential for development including agro- tourism activities. Smart Cities • The implementation of smart city solutions in Cyprus has been very limited, with various municipalities making their own independent ‘smart city plans’, at different speeds and levels, without any coordination. • Strategic sustainable urban planning and ‘Smart Cyprus’ actions are now under a smart city strategy coordinated by the newly established Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy. Housing • A new Housing Policy Framework introduced in 2019 enhances spatial planning policies for affordable housing, both for freehold house-ownerships and rental tenures. The new policy through the implementation of specific measures and actions aims to increase the supply of affordable housing units and at the same time allocate public funds for housing purposes to specific population groups and targeted areas, in a more efficient and effective way, by adopting simplified procedures. Effort is being made to create conditions for the production of affordable housing and the creation of a sufficient number of housing units. Sustainable Transport • The improvement of Public Transport is promoted throughout Cyprus with new concessions for buses. Also, the tram /BRT corridors are examined in Nicosia. Currently implementing the early winners for Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) for two main cities, Lemesos and Larnaka, which focus on enhancing multimodality by promoting public transport and other forms of active modes of transport namely walking and cycling by the creation of sidewalks and cycleways, redistribution of existing road space in favour of sustainable mobility, traffic management