€41m for ports payoffs

THE government on Thursday submitted to parliament a supplementary budget of €41.1m for the Cyprus Ports Authority (CPA), covering payouts related to the pending privatisation of the ports at Limassol and Larnaca.

Of the additional expenditures, €31.1m will be given to licensed porters, the remaining €10m to be paid out to CPA employees opting for early retirement.

A number of employees are expected to be made redundant once the ports’ commercial operations are handed over to private operators.

The privatisation of commercial operations at the two ports is an obligation stemming from a bailout deal between Cyprus and international creditors.

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.