Parliament building delays send costs soaring

DELAYS in starting work on a new parliament building are likely to result in a jump in the final cost from €44 million to over €80 million, Communications and Works Minister Nicos Nicolaides said yesterday.

Speaking after a meeting with House President Marios Garoyian to discuss the issue, the Minister said the new building would have to be ready by the time Cyprus takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of 2012.

Nicolaides said because the architectural plans for the site were done in 1994, prices had significantly increased since then.

And even though the plans for the building will remain the same, the cost of €44 million, which was budgeted for in 1998, would now pass €80 million.

This was due not only to the passage of time but also to other features that would have to be included because of developments in technology over the past ten years since the first plans were laid down.

This was also adding to the cost, he said. “All these issues will be taken with an eye on Cyprus assuming the presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2012,” said Nicolaides.

The new parliament building will be constructed on PASYDY hill in the centre of Nicosia, where an archaeological site was discovered during preliminary work.

Nicolaides said more meetings would be held in the coming days to outline what the requirements would be for the new parliament, including the preservation of the ancient site.

The preservation of the site has also added to the original cost, the Minister said. “Because of the delay, we are now looking at more than €80 million,” Nicolaides said.

He said the project was a classic example of the inability to run major works on time in Cyprus.

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.