Over the past year, house prices in the Polis Chrysochous area have almost doubled.
It turns out that the main trigger was the construction of a new motorway in this part of the island.
According to local residents, investors are most interested in houses in the villages of Ayia Marinouda, Marafunta and Polemi. They note that these villages were not very popular in the past, but are now promising areas for investment, mainly due to their favourable location along the future motorway. Interestingly, the delays in the construction of the new Paphos-Polis Chrysochous road are not deterring either buyers or developers. The former are enthusiastically investing their money in property developments and the latter are buying land for residential projects, hoping for the economic benefits and future prospects of the area.
The major project is divided into two phases.
In the first phase, a two-lane road will be built from the village of Ayia Marinuda to the village of Strumbi. This will later be upgraded to a four-lane motorway. The length of the motorway will be 15.5 kilometres and the cost, including taxes, will be over €86 million.
A roundabout will be built on the Limassol-Pafos motorway near the village of Ayia Marinouda to provide access to the new road. Another roundabout will be built at the village of Tsada and the final roundabout at the village of Strumbi, where the new road will join the existing road. This will cut out a significant part of the journey to Polis via Paphos.
The project also includes the drilling of two tunnels 720 metres and 290 metres long, the construction of five bridges 1.5 thousand metres long, two elevated and nine underground passages. And because the road has a steep gradient, an extra lane will be added on the uphill side, with a length of more than 10 kilometres.
When the second phase of the project is completed, the motorway will be 31 kilometres long. As work progresses on the first part of the project, a plan is being drawn up for the second phase. It will cost half as much because it does not include the construction of tunnels on the Strumbi-Polis section.