A deadline of two days will be given and if it is not presented then instructions will be requested from the Legal Service, said Mr. Vafeadis
The guarantee of the contractor company for the integrated development of the Port and Marina of Larnaca has not yet been received, said the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Alexis Vafeadis in the afternoon, noting at the same time that a deadline of two days will be given and if it is not submitted then instructions will be requested from the Legal Service.
In a discussion and briefing received from him by the Larnaca City and District Development Committee regarding the progress of the implementation of the project of the Integrated Development of the Port and Marina of Larnaca, Mr. Vafeadis stated that “we want to the specific project is implemented and we will do everything within the framework of legality to implement it”.
The Minister of Transport made a historical analysis of the situation to date.
Referring to the recent meeting held at the Presidential Palace under the President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulidis, Mr. Vafeadis stated that “the President of the Republic did not enter into technical matters. He asked for a clear answer from the company as to whether it is willing to submit the guarantee. The company said it was willing to submit it. The President said that once you submit the guarantee, the Ministry of Transport will spend as much time as it needs to immediately study the issues that the company will put on the table”.
He said that “this happened on Monday, April 15. Today is Friday, April 19 and we have not yet received the letter of guarantee”.
“Personally I thought that it was a reasonable time from Monday to Friday to prepare the letter of guarantee, they have not submitted it”, he said. He added that we will “wait until Monday, Tuesday, April 22-23, then things will be different”.
We said “at the Ministry of Transport we have decided to give another 2 days to the company and if the letter of guarantee is not presented we will request instructions from the Legal Service because the issue is not management of the contract, it is a clear legal issue as to whether the state is entitled to remains in a contract which has not been renewed the guarantee which is an essential condition of the contract and is not something that the state can accept or not accept”.
He noted that “the people who manage the contract have no choice when the contract is not renewed and that is why we have made incredible efforts for two months trying to get the guarantee”. Fortunately, he added, “the President of the Republic intervened and convinced the company to change its attitude, we are waiting for them to bring us the guarantee, if they don't bring it to us we will see what we will do”.
The Minister of Transport stated that “as far as the company's requests are concerned, they have not been examined, they have not even been referred to any committee for examination”. guarantee and once that is done, the Director General of the Ministry of Transport the next day I will call you to discuss the issues and then the process will begin to evaluate their requests and we will see,” he said.
We, noted Mr. Vafeadis, “insist that the state and all the contractors that cooperate with the state maintain a constructive attitude. We want to ensure the public interest. If the public interest is served by any different regulation of the contract, then we see it positively”.
To note, he said, “as the Auditor General has also said, there are things that you cannot accept, there are things that you can accept. There are red lines. We cannot, for example, accept that land expropriated for parking will be used for apartment buildings. This is an example”.
On these issues he said “we should give the time to the competent committees to examine the requests of the contracting company and decide accordingly. Depending on their decision will be the answer we will give to the company”.
He noted that “it is a matter that will not end in a week since some of their requests must be referred to other departments such as the Department of Town Planning and Housing for their own opinion”.
He said that “what we consider very positive is the fact that the company has accepted to carry the guarantee. As soon as he submits it we are committed to immediately start the evaluation because it will help our country together with the contractor to start the project which for us is of the utmost importance and we will spend as much time as it takes as much human resources as it takes to deal with it to close this chapter and to return the work to its normality”.
Mr. Vafeadis said that “I do not claim that the whole process will be a straight path, anything can happen, but I want you to know that the way we deal with the project is of the utmost importance, it is of national interest and it will take us as a country forward, we want it to will be implemented and we will do what we have to within the framework of legality to implement the project”.
The Mayor of Larnaca Andreas Vyras said that “representatives of the company are expected on Tuesday, Wednesday, April 22-23, to go to the City Hall to get the permit construction related to the original approved plan and to pay the relevant fees”. What we do know, Mr. Vyras said, “is that the company went out to bid for projects for both the Marina and the roads.” Also, Mr. Vafeadis said that “the company proceeded to renew the project's security”.
The members of the Larnaca City and District Development Committee expressed strong concerns about the progress of the projects, the start of work is expected on next June.
