It is necessary and necessary to build a swimming pool of Olympic standards in the free province of Famagusta, says the Mayor of Deryneia Andros Karagiannis.
Mr. Karagiannis told KYPE that "the process of renting the land for the creation of the Swimming Pool of Olympic standards in the province of Famagusta began in 2012, the land was leased to the Municipality of Deryneia and every year the amount of 500 euros is paid. "Unfortunately, our experience in Local Government has shown that it takes about a decade to promote a project, something that also happens with this project."
He added that "last week we had a meeting with the Cyprus Sports Organization during which we submitted the feasibility study of the project. It is now up to the CMO and the state whether they will pay the amount of 300 thousand euros for the study of the project in order to promote its construction ".
Answering a relevant question, the Mayor of Deryneia said that this project is regional and is something that the province of Famagusta lacks, since it is the only province in free Cyprus that does not have its own swimming pool of Olympic standards. "We consider this to be an injustice for our province, as it is a provincial swimming pool, which will belong to all the Municipalities and Communities of the free province of Famagusta," he noted.
For this very reason, he continued, "the construction of this project is necessary in order to bring many tourists, both locals and foreigners in the province of Famagusta."
To another question, the Mayor answered that "ways must be found to subsidize this project because we have submitted our vision as the Municipality of Deryneia for the construction of the swimming pool which will include a swimming pool of Olympic standards 50 meters long and an auxiliary 25 meters long and everyone knows that "Swimming is one of the best Olympic sports and activates all the muscles of the body". The pools will also be used for other sports and activities, such as water polo, diving lessons, lifeguarding, synchronized swimming and for empowering team athletes, he explained.
After stating that "the project is expected to promote medical and sports tourism in the province of Famagusta", Mr. Karagiannis said that the swimming pool will be built next to the General Hospital of Famagusta and next to the dead zone. "The project will be a pioneer, it will be a different swimming pool from all the others that exist in Cyprus, since renewable energy sources will be promoted, such as solar for water heating during the winter months," he noted.
He also continued, "through the swimming pool, it will be possible to attract several groups of professionals in the sport of swimming and not only, who will visit the province of Famagusta during the" dead season "to train, thus fighting the seasonality. At the same time, it is planned to create a state-of-the-art Rehabilitation Center specializing in physiotherapy, occupational therapy and rehabilitation ".
The Mayor of Deryneia also stated that "there are excellent swimmers in the province of Famagusta, they are the swimming athletes who have excelled in many competitions, including in various foreign countries. However, their training conditions are not satisfactory and with the creation of the new swimming pool, the province of Famagusta will invest more in the sport of swimming ".