Speaking during a hearing of the House Transport Committee, the Minister said that his department is reviewing the possibility of splitting the tender into two – one for the commercial and cruise port, and another for the marina and onshore resort.

He saidthat bids will be requested by the end of the month for consultants on the matter.

Demetriades said that the advisors’ main focus will be the resort and commercial development of the land, totalling about 200,000 sq.m., and will decide whether the port and marina projects will be tendered separately or together.

The chosen bidder Zenon Consortium, comprising the Lefkaritis-Petrolina Group, Iacovou Construction, the Larnaca Chamber of Commerce and other investors, abandoned the project in July, budgeted at €700 million, due to insufficient funding following the financial crisis of 2013 that put an end to all major projects on the island.

Further renegotiations to improve the conditions for Zenon to maintain the project also proved unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, addressing the same parliamentary meeting, Demetriades said that there was interest for the development of a cruise jetty at Paphos harbour, but that the state could not afford to go it alone.

He said that there was growing demand from cruise operators and from local hoteliers to offer the shuttle boat facility, but that this was not viable for the cash-strapped government, as the jetty would cost €7 million and further €10 million was needed to operate it and to buy the shuttle vessels to carry the passengers to and from the cruise ships.

Instead, he suggested, the government is prepared to sub-contract the project to private operators and that “we may also be ready to provide some financial assistance to make it viable.”

Source: Financial Mirror