Consider the logic first: The Government has decided to “offer” (a polite term for what essentially means giving away) Larnaca’s port and marina to private operators!
This comes after repeated failures to develop these two important facilities through private investment.
They won’t even require investors to spend the smallest amount on developing either site, they said. So they won’t spend even a single euro.
They’ll simply manage the two facilities, we’re told. What else can one think except that whatever private operators are chosen will be collecting revenues for (at least) five years without spending anything!
This sparked public outrage! Yet yesterday, the Transport Minister assured us that profits would go to the state!
Dear readers, there are three possibilities here. Either the government is foolish enough to believe they’ll find private operators willing to manage these facilities while handing profits to the state. Or some private operators are foolish enough to play Good Samaritan, managing the facilities while giving profits to the state. Or we’ve all gone mad and can’t see what’s really happening.
The latter two possibilities can be dismissed for obvious reasons. As for the first, to avoid being called spiteful by certain friends of the Presidential Palace, I’ll say I don’t believe it either.
This leaves us with a fourth option: Someone is trying to fool people while insulting their intelligence.
However, there are some troubling questions that irreparably expose those gentlemen who think they can play such games.
Firstly, after the Kition deal collapsed, the government promised that the future of the port and marina would be decided through consultation with stakeholders – specifically the local special committee managing this crucial issue for Zeno’s city.
So why did the Government ultimately make this decision without consulting Larnaca’s people? What were they afraid of and trying to avoid? How will they now dispel suspicions that they’re serving private interests?
Secondly, from the moment the Kition deal fell through, the Ports Authority declared itself fully ready to take over both management and development of the port.
Why did the Government so readily dismiss this option? Without even consulting them? Why, after repeated adventures with private operators, are they so quick to sideline a semi-governmental organisation in favour of unknown private operators (if they are indeed unknown)?
Thirdly, what grounds do they have for claiming this management contract will only last five years? The Transport Minister repeated yesterday that nobody can say when private operators will take over development (not just management) of these facilities.
His statement was telling: “We need to hire experts, the experts need to conduct studies, then evaluate them, decide what we want, and then prepare tender documents to find an investor. When we discussed this issue in Parliament in June, everyone agreed we’re looking at 4-5 years, which was also our estimate”.
Unfortunately, Mr Vafeades, in Cyprus we’ve learned that when the state estimates timeframes, extra years tend to be added.
So it’s more likely that these unknown private operators (if they are unknown) who take over management will stay for many more years.
Not to mention, as Larnaca’s mayor pointed out, it takes three or four years in court to evict someone from a simple kiosk contract. Though every kiosk operator fights eviction because they don’t want to lose their income. But here, Mr Vyras, they’re telling you the profits will go to the state!
What we’re seeing is a clear admission of the Government’s inability to manage two important state facilities. They’re throwing their hands up in defeat.
Yet they present these private operators they’ll find as mere cashiers, collecting port and marina revenues. If the state can’t even do that much, then heaven help us.
Of course, they talk about profits. If they mean private operators will keep revenue corresponding to expenses and give any surplus to the state, that’s the height of wisdom!
Because the state will bear all the expenses. Everything points to another looming failure. And another looming scandal. The 20-year odyssey of Larnaca port will continue. This time, without even having Odysseas…
