By Jean Christou
THE deadline for submission of tenders for new marinas and the extension of the Larnaca facility has been postponed until June 20 after investors raised doubts about several issues including the construction of on-site holiday accommodation.
The marina projects were due to be well under way by now but several postponements have frustrated boats owners and the government. One of the big issues, according to sources at the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), was the construction of hotels, particularly at Larnaca.
Terms and conditions of the tenders in some cases provided for the compulsory building of hotels, which investors objected to. “The town planning department commission and also the municipality and the chamber of commerce of Larnaca felt there was a need for a good luxury hotel that would be very central and combine very well with the luxury marina facilities and cater for conferences, so they thought it would be a good idea to make it compulsory, but I think when the interested tenders studied it, several requested flexibility on that,” the source said.
The government has invited international tenders for the five new marinas under the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) method. The five marinas are to be situated in Paphos, Ayia Napa, Paralimni and Limassol while the Larnaca marina is to be extended.
The Paphos Marina will be constructed at the Potima area in Kissonerga and will have a capacity of 1.000 vessels. The Limassol Marina will be built to the west of the old port and will also have a capacity of 1.000 vessels. The Ayios Raphael Marina in Limassol will continue to operate with a capacity of 250 vessels. In Larnaca, the existing marina will be extended so that its current capacity of 450 vessels will expand to 1,000 vessels.
The Ayia Napa Marina will be constructed at the Loumata area and will have a capacity of 600 vessels and the Paralimni Marina will be built near the fishing shelter and will have a capacity of 250 vessels. Current marina space totals around 700 berths, 450 at Larnaca and 250 at the St Raphael marina in Limassol.
Successful bidders would undertake the development operation and management of the marinas for up to 48 years, after which they would be returned to the state along with all installations. In addition to basic port facilities, the marinas will include commercial and entertainment buildings.
Haris Kyriakides, spokesman for the Cyprus Marine, Commerce and Industry Association, criticised the numerous delays. He said there were delays in all of the areas marked out for marinas. “Now we have another small delay on top of all the other delays,” he said. “The government has announced that it’s giving £7 million for tourism after the Iraq war so here we are talking about £7 million for promotion when we have projects here that will have people without any promotion, just by letting them know that we have empty spaces in marinas. I think that in terms of revenue you need a lot of tourists to cover for the revenue that one single boat can bring here.”
Iris Karayiannis, a senior official at the Commerce, Industry and Tourism Ministry said the building of hotels at the marinas was optional for the investors. She also said that a lot of nasty rumours were being spread about the marina projects “by people who don’t want the marinas to be given to the private sector”.
She said any delays were at the request of the investors themselves and not instigated by the government. “They wanted more time and we gave them less than what they asked for. They wanted to wait until after summer and we said ‘no’ so June 20 is last date no matter what happens,” she said.
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.
