Renovation works have started on Girne’s sea promenade, the city’s mayor Murat Şenkul announced on Thursday evening.

The improved revamped promenade which includes wide spaces and new facilities once completed is expected to attract more tourists and visitors to the area.

In a post on social media, Şenkul said the area has been “waiting for years to be rebuilt,” and that “when the works we started are completed, our country will gain a very special public space.”

He added, “we will not allow the ugliness in our country’s politics to bring us into despair.”

“The new Girne, Girne once more, is the pearl of the Mediterranean,” he said.

The new works begin as renovations to the town’s old harbour near their end, though there are creases which are yet to be ironed out in that particular project.