THE NORTH’S authorities are preparing to pour millions of pounds into the development of parts of the Morphou region, despite long-held assumptions that the region would eventually be handed over to Greek Cypriots as part of a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem.
“We can’t ask the people of Morphou to wait another 30 years in limbo,” the head of the Guzelyurt (Morphou) Development Association (GUKAD), Hakan Kuntay, said yesterday in defence of plans for massive investment in the area.
In 2004, Turkish Cypriots in the Morphou region gave a stronger backing to the Annan plan that anywhere else on the island. Two years on, however, feelings in the town have changed, Kuntay told the Cyprus Mail. GUKAD, which has worked closely with the administration in devising the development plan, says it recently carried out a survey, which revealed that if the Annan plan referendum were to be repeated today, over 40 per cent of people in the area would reject it.
In an effort to reverse the massive drain of population and resources from the area, the development plan, which has now been passed by the north’s ‘council of ministers’, involves the creation of new jobs, housing, and tourism and educational facilities.
“This area is currently very poor compared with the rest of the country, but I believe that in three to four years it could catch up with Kyrenia in terms of growth rates. What we are talking about here is a new concept and a new design,” Kuntay said.
The proposed development area is largely located in a swathe of land north of the town of Morphou – incidentally, an area that would have remained under Turkish Cypriot control if the Annan plan had been approved – which has, at its centre, the newly-opened Middle East Technical University (ODTU) campus. The campus is an offshoot of one of Turkey’s top two universities, and hopes to house around 10,000 students on its Cyprus campus within a decade.
Much of the land set aside for the project was termed state property prior to 1974. Other properties, whether Turkish or Greek Cypriot-owned, are likely to be expropriated for the project, Kuntay said.
Around 2,000 donums of coastal lands have been earmarked for tourism projects, while a further 870 donums are said to be set aside for housing.
“We aim to get young families to settle in the area,” Kuntay said, but added that once ODTU’s campus population had begun to grow, people would automatically want to move to and invest in the area. His main concern, he said, was not whether or not investors would flock to the area, but whether the development took place in an ordered way. He was keen to stress that no building would be allowed at less than 100 metres from the seashore.
‘Interior ministry’ undersecretary Hasan Findik echoed Kuntay’s concerns by saying, “In the past investment came first, and then planning. This time we want the plans first, and then investment.” He added that the way in which the plans for the development area were to be submitted and implemented would be “compatible” with similar projects carried out elsewhere in the world. This, he said, would be “a first for the north” and would give Morphou a chance to compete with other areas,” he said.
Kuntay said plans were also underway to devise special tax and interest rates for those seeking credit for investment in the area. He added that it was likely the ‘state’ would guarantee all investments so that if the whole or parts of the area were to once again to be included in a comprehensive settlement plan, investors would not lose out.
