The contract for the construction of the highway connecting the Nicosia rural communities Astromeritis and Evrychou was signed in a ceremony held at the Presidential Palace on Thursday. The ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Yannis Karoussos and representatives of the communities.

Astromeritis is a village 42 km west of Nicosia and the road connecting it to Evrychou, a village 56 km far from Nicosia, is the main road towards Troodos Mountain range.

Construction of the project is expected to take 36 months and to begin next month. Its total cost amounts to €88,627,630 including VAT. It will be a four-lane highway, 11 kilometers long. It includes an uneven junction, uneven crossings and two level junctions for the interconnection with the existing road network. .

Addressing the event President Anastasiades said that this ambitious project is officially on track for implementation.

With these projects, the upgrading of the quality of life of the inhabitants, the attraction of visitors and tourists, the stimulation of existing economic activities, the attraction of investments and the increase of employment as well as the creation of new jobs are enhanced, he said, in order "to retain the young people who already live there or to give them incentives to return to our communities."

The contract was signed by the deputy director of the Department of Public Works, Eleni Kaskiri, and the representative of the Cybarco-Pharmakas company, Iraklis Passadis.