“We are waiting for the fuel companies to tell us their needs in the next 15 days so we can decide also on where to move their terminals,” he said. Hasikos added that the government will not have to pay any compensation to move both gas and fuel installations from their current locations on Larnaca’s coast. “It was made clear to the owners of both installations that they would need to be moved,” the minister said.

Hasikos met with Larnaca Municipality in August to try to come to an agreement on moving the installations. “We all agree on the matter of the terminals and the gas,” Hasikos said after the meeting. “What remains is the time, the timeframe in which the (fuel) companies must abandon the area.” The plan is to move the installations to Vassilikos. “I believe we will progress and very soon we will also have the area where these companies will be located in the broader vicinity of the energy centre at Vassilikos,” Hasikos said. The minister had pledged that fuel and gas terminals on the Larnaca coast would be moved within three years.

In July, the Larnaca municipality secured a court order for the removal of the installations within 18 months. The order comes into effect the day it is signed by the interior minister who can change the timeframe provided he justifies his action.

Source: Cyprus Mail