Introduction and General Terms
Mission Summary: a fact-finding mission culminating in reports and data sets detailing conditions on the ground, organized by geographic area and by subject of study. The output of this mission will enable the municipalities, NGO’s, political parties, technical chambers, business chambers and other legitimate stakeholders to contribute to and collaborate in the joint development and eventual formal adoption of a comprehensive economic and urban plan for the long term development of the wider Famagusta region.
In general, the objective is to provide the essential factual information on current conditions so as to enable future analysts and planners to estimate time, cost and feasible options when developing a common vision and making strategic choices for the future of Famagusta.
It should be stressed that this mission is not about designing solutions or making strategic choices. These are decisions that properly belong with the organized and elected representatives of Famagusta’s citizens, technical and business stakeholders. The proposed mission is intended to complement and support the ongoing and future stakeholder engagement efforts by establishing and/or making accessible all the useful and necessary facts so as to enable successful and comprehensive strategic design concerning the future of the city.
The form of dataset output should be industry standard Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and 3D models, so as to provide a common reference basis which will facilitate and enable all future planners and designers.
In cases where the needed information already exists, the mission will collect, validate, translate into English, curate and incorporate this information into the dataset and reports. The cooperation of relevant authorities will be required for this.
The key customers for the project’s output shall be the civil society entities which are anticipated to play important roles in jointly crafting and owning the vision for the future development of “Greater Famagusta”, these being:
- the two Famagusta Municipalities and the two Mayors of Famagusta, who represent the citizens of Famagusta
- the Famagusta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EBEA) and prominent Famagustian members of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce (KTTO), with explicit support from KTTO if forthcoming, who represent the owners of thousands of businesses of all sizes
- the relevant technical architects’ and engineers’ Chambers from both sides (ETEK and KTMMOB), as well as the Greek Cypriot Council for Reconstruction and Resettlement (CRR), who bring their technical expertise
- interested and active grass-roots civil society organizations with a stake in the future of Famagusta, including MAĞUSA İNSİYATİFİ, MASDER, Bicommunal Famagusta Initiative, Famagusta Ecocity Project and any other organized groups of Famagusta citizens.
Scope
The project will establish facts for the entire urban and suburban area of Famagusta, under five headings: (1) Varosha, (2) rest of urban Famagusta, (3) monuments, (4) the port and (5) areas of natural beauty. The simultaneous and internally consistent establishment of facts for all of the above is essential for integrated planning of a “Greater Famagusta” metropolis in the future, which is a key strategic goal of the Bicommunal Famagusta Initiative that has been adopted by the two municipalities.
Project Management
A critical success factor is the employment of a full time experienced project manager for the duration of the project. He or she shall coordinate the project programme and also carry out liaison throughout the project with the key customers for the project output.
In respect of the detailed output of the project, the project manager shall work closely with a consultative committee consisting of representatives of the project’s key customers. It is clarified that any Bicommunal Famagusta Initiative members represented on this committee will serve pro bono.
The project manager’s team shall include four translators (mainly Turkish to English) and two assistants with project management and scheduling experience, one each from the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
The project manager will engage the team leaders to jointly prepare and agree with them a detailed programme of works. The scheduling in this programme will take into account the natural interest of the two communities in this high-profile project so as to maintain balanced levels of interest going forward. For instance, areas 1 and 2 (Varosha and the rest of urban Famagusta)
Budgetary Costs
The three main cost headings are:
- Project Management team costs
- Experts costs
- Necessary out-of pocket expenses, including for GIS development
Having considered the extensive scope of works needed, this proposal suggests that the entire budget of the donor is applied to items (a) and (c) above. Regarding item (b), the costs of the experts themselves, the proposal is to cover out of pocket costs but not time costs. Due to the intense interest for early involvement in this unique large-scale effort, it will be possible for the project team to tap on a pro bono basis:
- the research interest of Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot and international academics;
- the professional interest of technical chambers from both communities who will want to participate in establishing the basis for future consultative work on behalf of public and private stakeholders; and
- the commercial interest of R&D and PR departments of large international corporations who might be involved in future as suppliers or contractors in the revitalization of Famagusta.
Tapping a large number of experts from these three sources in the form of a well-managed and well-structured project makes it possible to keep the cost of the project realistic manageable, despite the ambitious scope for the data to be provided.
The terms of reference for the components of the fact-finding exercise have been built around numbers of days of site visits, numbers of persons and numbers of person-hours, both on-site as well as desktop.
Wherever possible, the PM team will direct the experts to take advantage of existing studies and data already collected, improving the quality of the output of the project and reducing costs.
Apart from travel costs for the foreign experts, the use of equipment and out-of-pocket expenses, including GIS, 3D modelling and report production costs, should also be budgeted for. A rule of thumb in such technical studies is that these general expenses usually amount to ___ % of time costs.
Expert Teams
There will be 13 teams of experts, a total of 66 persons split equally among Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots and international experts. This will provide a good balance of local knowledge and international best practices, as well as symbolize the future cooperation for a joint revitalization of the entire city. The proposed composition of the expert teams is summarized in the table below:
Area 1: Fenced-off area (Varosha)
Proposed Mission: characterize the condition of built infrastructure and buildings in the fenced-off area including its immediate surroundings, supplying all the information necessary to estimate time, cost and likely strategies for either renovation or demolition & rebuilding in accordance with latest standards including earthquake resistance. Also collect information needed for beach extension strategies.
- Road networks
- Electricity supply & telecom networks
- Sewage & drainage networks
- Water supply networks
- Public buildings
- Private Buildings (externally only for roofs / load bearing structures / foundations; random representative samples for each typical group)
- Beach sand accumulation and erosion (wave dynamics)
- Health Issues and Pest Control
Proposed Specializations: architects (9 in 3 teams), civil engineers and quantity surveyors (9 in 3 teams), mechanical engineers and electrical engineers (6 in one team), coastal engineers (4-5 in one team), urban planners and environmental engineers (6 in one team), biologists and public health experts (3 in one team)
Estimated person-hours of site visits required, and number of visits: 1000 hours, 38 persons, 4 full-day visits.
Estimated person-hours of desktop work required: 2000 hours
First day’s visit: project manager plus 1 or 2 from each of the 6 teams, for overview and work-planning of the three days of site visits by the full teams.
Indicative deliverables: complete data sets, photos, reports, opinions on conditions of buildings and built infrastructure, proforma budgets for renovating typical buildings in each representative sub-sample, cost ranges for rehabilitation of infrastructure. For the beach, historic trends of erosion and accumulation, estimate of mean waterline location to assist with planning extensions, and a map of depths going out 200m from the existing building line.
Area 2: Urban areas of Famagusta (excluding fenced-off area)
Proposed Mission: study the development patterns and condition of built infrastructure and buildings in urban areas of Famagusta excluding the fenced-off area, supplying all the information necessary to estimate time, cost and likely strategies for the revitalization of the city and the future urban development of a Famagusta metropolis with a view to integrating all four parts of the city into one functional unit. Special emphasis should be paid to (i) fact-finding to support future studies regarding the integration of transport systems and infrastructure throughout the city and (ii) studying the current interaction of the port with the economy of the city (employment, uses, access routes). Wherever the required data already exists, collect, validate, curate and include with project output.
- Road networks
- Electricity supply & telecom networks
- Sewage & drainage networks
- Water supply networks
- Public buildings
- Beach sand accumulation and erosion (wave dynamics)
- Health Issues and Pest Control
Proposed Specializations: architects (9 in 3 teams), civil engineers and quantity surveyors (9 in 3 teams), mechanical engineers and electrical engineers (6 in one team), coastal engineers (4-5 in one team), urban planners and environmental engineers (6 in one team), biologists and public health experts (3 in one team)
Estimated person-hours of site visits required, and number of visits: 1000 person-hours, 38 persons, 3 full-day visits. These experts should be the same team of 38 persons that visits Varosha, in accordance with the strategic choice towards the future coordinated development of the two municipalities of the city as a single functional unit.
Estimated person-hours of desktop work required: 1000 hours
Area 3: Monuments
Proposed Mission: characterize current conditions, identify emergencies for restoration and conservation, classify buildings according to their historical importance and priority for intervention, and gather information necessary to prepare budgets and strategies for conservation work for monuments only within:
- Walled City
- Salamis
- Engomi
- Apostolos Varnavas
Where data exists, such as past studies and research, collect, validate, translate as needed, curate and include with the project output.
Proposed Specializations: specialist architects (2), civil engineers (2), quantity surveyor (1), archaeologists (4), historians (3)
Estimated person-hours of site visits required, and number of visits: 300 person hours, 12 persons, 3 days.
Estimated person-hours of desktop work required: 300 person-hours.
The historians and archaeologists in the group to propose analytical lists of monuments to be considered for the study. Project Manager to coordinate this list with stakeholders.
Area 4: Port of Famagusta
Proposed Mission: identify (i) its capacity to support the revival of the greater Famagusta area in its current form as a commercial port and (ii) provide relevant information to support any future study of feasible options for long term future redevelopment such as marina, cruise center and a new port at a new location. Wherever the required data already exists, collect, validate, curate and include with project output.
- Depths survey
- Silting dynamics
- Docks condition
- Breakwaters condition
- Maximum cruise ship size that can be serviced
Proposed Specializations: specialist civil engineer (1), marine engineer (1), environmental engineer (1), coastal engineers (2), marina designers (2), archaeologists (1)
Estimated person-hours of site visits required, and number of visits: 130 person hours, 8 persons, 2 days
Estimated person-hours of desktop work required: 130 person-hours
Note: Marina designers to suggest a number of alternative concepts showing maximum number of berths per size category.
Area 5: Areas of Natural Beauty and Interest
Proposed Mission: identify and characterize the natural dynamics which are suggestive of natural limits to development in the area, so as to enable future planners to make wise urban planning decisions in areas such as lake of Ayios Loukas, the Karaolos/Karakol swamplands and the river delta region (Klapsides). Where data exists, such as environmental impact studies, collect, validate, curate and include with the project output.
- Levels of water tables
- Water flows
- Extent of swamplands (max)
- Extent of river delta areas (max)
- Flora and fauna
Proposed Specializations: environmental engineers (2), coastal engineers (2), urban planners (3), biologists (2)
Estimated person-hours of site visits required, and number of visits: 150 person-hours, 9 persons, 2 days
Estimated person-hours of desktop work required: 150 person-hours
Relevance and Contribution of the action to the Peace Process & to efforts to reach a Comprehensive Settlement
Grass-roots organizations springing from both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Famagustians have recently proposed common visions for the future development and prosperity of the city which have inspired fellow citizens and public opinion with their optimism and forward-looking nature.
The natural next step is to proceed to collaborative master planning with the ownership and participation of key stakeholders from both communities.
However, successful master planning in a situation as complex as that of Famagusta cannot start without facts and data. This is the specific gap that this fact-finding project is intended to fill. Some of this data exists and it is merely a matter of collecting, organizing and communicating. Most of the data relating to the enclaved part of the city (Varosha) does not exist and will need to be developed by the teams of experts. For this reason, access into the enclaved city is critically important and the project should not proceed unless such access would be assured.
The immediate impact to the peace process of Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot and international experts entering Varosha to work on a plan for the future prosperity and development of Famagusta is likely to be an important psychological boost to the ongoing negotiations for a comprehensive settlement. In particular, the symbolism of technocrats from both communities working together and tapping international best practices at the same time is extremely important with wide-ranging messages that can reverberate throughout the Cypriot political class and society.
The longer-term and more substantial impact to the peace process will operate through enabling the development of a credible, far-reaching and intelligent masterplan by all the key Famagustian stakeholders. Such a masterplan will prove to be a critical element in an effort to mobilize resources, including funding resources, to actually revive greater Famagusta over the medium and longer term and thereby turn it into a good omen for the peaceful, prosperous and stable future of the new federal Cyprus.