Orphanides confident of securing Paphos licence

ONE of the biggest supermarket chains on the island said yesterday it was confident it would eventually secure a building permit from Paphos Municipality to build its new store, the third in the town.

The municipal council had decided by majority vote not to grant a building licence to the Orphanides Company, which planned to build its new supermarket near the town’s northern bypass.

Backing the council’s decision, Paphos Mayor Phidias Sarikas, said the area in question was not available for such development.

But another supermarket chain, Woolworth, has already built a store in the same area, though reports said Woolworth had to appeal to the Supreme Court to get a building licence to build there.

Yesterday, Orphanides Manager Christos Orphanides told the Cyprus Mail he was confident his company would eventually get the licence.

“We are sure the site is the best. Paphos needs such development and this can be proved by the other Orphanides supermarkets,” he said.

The company last year purchased two local supermarkets and integrated them into its chain.

Orphanides said they would send a letter to the municipal council, asking for a meeting that would give them a chance to present their project.

“I believe that with the presentation of all the aspects of the project, and with any possible changes the council might want, we are hopeful that there will not be a problem,” Orphanides said.

He added that his company had carried out environmental and traffic studies, along with a retail impact study, and that all were positive.

“The town centre will not be affected, nor the environment or traffic,” he said.

But the municipal council and local shopkeepers fear such a development would damage the town centre.

Orphanides said what his company was doing was for the good of Paphos.

“Of course any municipal council would want what is good for the town. I believe such a development is for the good of Paphos.”

Representatives of Paphos Municipality were not available for comment on the issue yesterday.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.