For the first time, at noon on Friday, October 28, immediately after the parade that will take place on the beach of Finikoudes for the national anniversary, the newly upgraded Larnaca marina will open its gates to the public.
In a written announcement by Kition Ocean Holdings it is stated that on the evening of Tuesday 25 October, in a special ceremony held at the marina, it was officially opened in the presence of the current and former Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Yannis Karousos and Marios Dimitriadis, the Ambassador of Israel in Cyprus, the Mayor of Larnaca, MPs and other personalities of the city.
In his greeting, Paris Dimitriou, Director of the Larnaca marina said that “the six months from the day Kition Ocean Holdings took over the marina, as part of an agreement to redevelop the marina and the port of Larnaca, was an extremely intense and demanding period during which we had to undertake, organize, change, adapt, improve, modernize and generally prepare a marina that fully meets the requirements of the boat owners who choose it. At the same time we had to present and make the city's marina available to the public”.
He added that “we want to bring the marina even closer to the public of Larnaca and beyond, demonstrating once again our intention to make it a strong component of the life of the city. The marina is moving into the new era and our goal is to create a unique destination that will be offered for the entire duration of the year, able to serve and host all types of yachts and provide services that satisfy demanding owners and crews, customers and visitors”.
In his own greeting, Panos Alexandrou, CEO of Kition Ocean Holdings, called “a historic day the implementation of the project of redevelopment of the marina and port of Larnaca, on Friday October 28, since at 1:00 pm the marina opens its gates to the public of Larnaca but also of the whole of Cyprus, on a 24-hour basis. During the opening actions for the public visitors will have the opportunity to see how the marina has been shaped after April 1, 2022, the date of activation of the agreement of the Republic of Cyprus with Kition Ocean Holdings”.
He added that “in the marina there will be a modern Greek-style fish restaurant, a canteen with street food and snacks, a small children's playground/amusement park, service offices, sales of boats and marine items and a market that will bear the name “Marina Market”, which will permanently host 9 small houses with local businesses that will have products, food and drink, while on special occasions such as Christmas, Festivals and other events it will also host other activities”.
The marina, he continued, “will have 150 parking spaces that they will be able to serve the public who wish to visit the marina or the beach front of Athens Avenue in general, while parking will be free until the end of November”.
The permanent opening of the Larnaca marina to the public, he continued, “was achieved after a period of 6 months during which its Management carried out the necessary health and safety works that will ensure the safe presence of visitors. Sidewalks, environmentally friendly lighting, pedestrian crossings, gates and parking areas, and a state-of-the-art security system with cameras to monitor all areas of the marina, are just some of the infrastructure projects undertaken.
He also stated that “phase A of the project will include the marine area of the marina and part of the land developments. It will have a capacity of 650 berths for various boat lengths from 5 to 125 meters, will have a fueling station for boats in a new breakwater and a modern office building which will house the marina offices, sea scouts, restaurants, cafes, leisure areas and stores”.
At the same time “the upgraded services that the new Larnaca marina will offer will include the provision of water, electricity, internet, refueling and maintenance for all categories of boats”.
Besides, the Mayor of Larnaca, Andreas Vyras, said that “the time has finally come for the city to make use of one of the most beautiful and productive areas it has. That is why from the beginning we stood by Kition Ocean Holdings and assured that the Municipality will be with them in whatever they need, since” as he explained “for the last few years, our party is Larnaca. We worked with the government and two Ministers of Transport, the former and the current, and we managed to make this decades-long dream possible”.
He added that “Larnaka was never the poor relative and we never accepted that title, since the city has always been a beautiful place. What we will ensure with the new projects being carried out in the city is that Larnaca will now be an equal member of the development of Cyprus”.
According to Mr. Vyra “with the development of its marina and port city, the movement of oil products and the development of the three-kilometer waterfront, with dozens of projects completed and underway, as well as private initiative projects from the waterfront, Larnaca will now become a prominent member of the development of our country”.
It is noted that on both Friday 28 and Saturday 29 October, various artistic events will take place in the marina.
