Paphos Mayor Fedonas Fedonos signed on Thursday, April 6 an agreement with the contractor INNTENET LTD for the supply, installation and maintenance of an intelligent parking management system, the cost of which is estimated at 916,300 euros.
The signing of the contract was also attended by the Deputy Mayor of Paphos Christos Makariou, EBE President of Paphos George May, EBE Director Marinos Stylianou, POVEK Paphos President Andreas Evripidou and officials of the Paphos Municipality.
Fedonas Fedonos noted during the event that Paphos is the first city to embark on a comprehensive solution for the implementation of intelligent parking. He also expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the municipality of the city, having no experience in this matter, managed to design and prepare documents for the competition, which can now be used as a template by other municipalities.
According to the release, the project includes the installation of modern sensors to effectively manage parking spaces in the city.
A total of about 3,300 parking spaces in Paphos will become "smart".
A special mobile application will be developed for the convenience of local residents and guests of the city. Drivers will be able to pay for parking online and learn about the availability of parking spaces, tariffs and parking time via this app.
Under the agreement, INNTENET LTD undertook to implement the project within the next 7 months, after which it will be engaged in its maintenance for another 8 years.
It should be noted that the project will be supervised by the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Policy, and it will be financed from European funds.
It is expected that the introduction of an IT system will bring many benefits: the number of unnecessary movements of vehicles will decrease, it will become easier for residents and tourists to move around the city, and the level of pollution will decrease.
According to local authorities, the signing of the contract for the creation of smart parking spaces indicates that the municipality is taking another important step towards realizing its strategic goal of turning Paphos into a “smart city”.
As you may know, Paphos has been participating in the Smart Cities project, which has been implemented as part of the Interreg V-A Greece-Cyprus cooperation program since 2014.
The program is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
“Smart city” is a set of information and communication technologies (ICT) designed to improve the standard of living of people. ICT is being used to design, implement and promote sustainable urban development plans and to address growing urbanization challenges. Residents interact with smart city systems in a variety of ways, but mostly through their smartphones and other mobile devices. Targeted energy distribution, streamlined waste collection, reduced traffic congestion, improved air quality are just some of the benefits of a smart urban environment.