INFORMATION technology has been the winner of the latest licensing battle to dog the IMC building, despite media reports that the matter was still unresolved, the building’s owner insisted yesterday.
IMC owner Andreas Kaisis told the Cyprus Mail that yesterday’s newspaper reports claiming the IT bid was going ahead without government support were inaccurate.
“The Ministry of Commerce has given its full support, because information technology is lacking in Cyprus and our wishes were in line with government plans,” said Kaisis.
Renting office space to information technology companies usurps the original idea of using part of the building — now housing the flagging Cyprus Stock Exchange — as a distribution centre for bathroom equipment.
The intention was for the ground floor to be taken up with bathroom equipment in transit to depots throughout Cyprus. The Stock Market is on the second floor.
“We signed the contract but the board of the CSE objected to the Ministry because they didn’t want the entrance to the stock exchange full of toilets,” said Kaisis.
Town Planning suggested that a more appropriate use could be found for the island’s premier commercial centre.
Two months ago, a meeting decided to open the doors to IT companies, in order to make use of the building’s sophisticated technological infrastructure.
“As soon as we received the letter of confirmation from the Ministry, we started signing contracts,” Kaisis said. He expects applications from up to 20 IT companies.
The first company started operating there two weeks ago.
But the CSE’s objection to bathroom furniture was the latest in a long line of struggles over the proposed use of the huge, state-of-the art office complex.
Kaisis spent £700,000 on renovating the building to meet the requirements of the Council of Ministers for the CSE, then an extra £40,000 on plunging the roof down to wipe out a to wipe out an erroneous “mini-floor,” not concordant with the licence arrangements.
Then Nicosia Mayor Lellos Demetriades went to the Supreme Court to try and prevent the CSE from going to the IMC, protesting it was outrageous to have a national institution outside the municipal boundaries of central Nicosia and that the contract had not been negotiated through the correct channels.
When the CSE finally moved in December, things were still far from perfect, with stockbrokers forced to sit on filing cabinets for lack of space, while investors complained that the new facilities in the £30 million building did not match expectations.
In January, the Town Planning Department protested that the car park was poorly signposted and that the ground floor branch of the Universal Bank was unlicensed to open on the left hand side of the front door, only on the right.
These disputes have been cleared up and the remaining retail outlets have until the end of May to shift over a £1 million worth of stock to new premises.
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.
