A MISPLACED bank and lack of car park signs threaten the future of the Stock Market and the IMC building unless immediate action is taken to rectify the situation, the Town Planning Department has ruled.
But the owner of the IMC, George Kaisis, yesterday accused the press of gross exaggeration over alleged illegalities and said there was no question of closing down the Stock Market.
The Town Planning Department sent a letter to the IMC last week asking it to rectify three violations of the licensing agreement before January 23.
“There are some formal differences with the Town Planning Department, two of which are very minor and one is a result of misinformation,” Kaisis told the Cyprus Mail.
Perhaps the most serious violation is the precise location of the Universal Bank branch in the building.
While the IMC is licensed to house two banks (the Universal Bank is currently the only one), they set up shop on the left hand side of the ground floor entrance, whereas the licence stipulates that the bank must be on the right hand side.
Universal chose the left hand side because the walls carve out a “corner” deemed more suitable for an office of its size.
Kaisis admits that perhaps the IMC ignored the stipulations of the licence, but said he would apply to alter the positioning of the bank before the end of the week.
He is reluctant to move the bank because of the expense of renovating and equipping the left-hand-side office.
On the other allegations, he claimed that Town Planning were “misinformed” that retailing operates from the IMC, when the building has been given a licence for wholesaling only.
Kaisis says the ground floor cash and carry store, where customers must buy in bulk – a minimum six-fold purchase of any one product – qualifies as a wholesale outlet.
The other problem is the lack of signposting in the car park to allocate spaces for the different companies in the building.
Kaisis said the signposting issue was being dealt with and should be in place as soon as possible.
He was confident that the “minor” infractions could be cleared up as quickly as possible.
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.
