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Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Alexis Vafeadis today responded to journalists' questions regarding the termination of the concession contract of the Larnaca Port and Marina Integrated Development Project.
In response to a journalist's comment that the company is considering its legal rights and to a question whether there is interest from other investors, Mr. Vafeadis replied. We are following to the letter what the contract says and the procedure laid down. Therefore, we consider that we have legally managed the matter." He also said that he does not know why the contractor company has a different opinion and expects that they will substantiate it at some point.
Asked to comment on statements by Panos Alexandros, a shareholder in Kition, on RIK radio that he had given a solution on Saturday night, suggesting that even Mr. Alexandros himself should pay the guarantee and that the contract should not be terminated, the minister was unequivocal. "Over the last four months there has been a huge effort by the Government to find ways to ensure that the contract with Kition is not terminated. Mr Alexander has repeatedly stated since January that he is prepared to buy out the other shareholders and submit the appropriate applications so that the company's share capital can be changed. We have stated that, provided that it is approved by the relevant authorities, we are ready to work with a new entity in order not to lose the contract. Unfortunately, Mr Alexandrou has not brought any official document, no official request to the Ministry or any other body, making this intention official. You know, an intention is fine, but if it is not backed up by action, unfortunately it remains as an intention and cannot be implemented."
The Minister went on to say that this perception of Mr. Alexandros "has been repeated too many times over the last four months, even two weeks ago, even a week ago. Even this weekend, Mr. Alexandrou has repeatedly stated that he was not getting a response from the other shareholders. Therefore, in the absence of any formal application, we had at some point in time to assess whether we could legitimately remain in a contract without the existence of this guarantee and continue indefinitely this story about whether they would apply."
"You know," Mr. Vafeades continued, "we have given both Mr. Alexandrou a very long time, four months, to act in any way he wanted and the company to submit the surety bond, which he should have renewed. We have given four written reports to the company, telling them with what parameters there is provision in the contract for them to act. They have ignored us. The President himself has held a meeting with the company, to which the company has made a commitment, and the next day he had also issued a statement that he had committed to bring the guarantee, which commitment in the end he did not implement. You realise that this cannot go on indefinitely, because it is something that does not safeguard the public interest. The public interest says that if the contractor fails to meet its obligations, substantial obligations, not individual obligations, then there is no choice. We have taken all of this into account and Mr. Alexander's intentions, which we first wanted to see implemented, but they have not been implemented despite the many extensions, despite the many opportunities we gave them. Therefore, we had no choice at the end of the day but to terminate the contract."
Asked by a reporter whether there will be an investigation into what may have gone wrong, the Minister reiterated yesterday's statements "that when a contract does not develop in the way we wanted it to, then we have to evaluate everything that has happened, with the primary objective, of course, to identify any mistakes so that they are not repeated in the future."
When asked by a journalist whether there will be an investigation into what may have gone wrong, the Minister reiterated yesterday's statements "that when a contract does not develop in the way we wanted it to, then we have to evaluate everything that has happened, with the primary objective, of course, to identify any mistakes so that they are not repeated in the future. Mr Vafeadi said that this evaluation must be done by everyone, both on the content of the contract and on what it provided for. It must be done not to start saying that we are not to blame, but in order to serve the public interest, to identify all the problems, all the procedures that may need to be corrected, so that in the future we do not encounter this situation again, the Minister concluded.
(SAP/GC/EP)
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