The Cabinet of Ministers gave the green light for a studythat will focus on the possibility of building facilities for cruise ships aspart of the alleged Paphos Marina in Kissonerga Potima Bay north of the city.
After the meeting, Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdiossaid that in the next two to three weeks the official start of a tender for thepreparation of the study will be announced. The first part of the study will bedevoted to the question of whether to combine the development of the marina withcruise ships or whether to build only a pier.
The second part will be devoted to the definition oftechnical specifications for the construction of the project. For many years,the government invited and rejected tenders for the construction of the project.Since the initial study was conducted over 30 years ago, the Paphos Marinaproject was stopped by bureaucracy and legal battles.
In 2008, the contract was concluded with the consortiumCybarco Pandora, which included the Leptos Group. Two other members, Poseidonand Pafilia, disputed the award, claiming that the Cybarco Pandora consortiumused insider information, which allowed him to bid lower. In the end, in May2016, after a legal battle, the Poseidon consortium received a contract forMarina. Although the consortium received a letter from the Bank of Cyprus inwhich the bank guaranteed financing of the entire project, Poseidon was unableto prove that it had 122 million euros or 60% of the total project cost of 215million euros.
In 2017, Pafilia Developers, which was next in the list oftenders, was invited to participate in a tender for the construction andoperation of the marina. Then, in 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the appeal ofthe Poseidon consortium that the committee responsible for overseeing thetender process in Paphos was illegal.
In July 2018, Marina's “new” steering committee signed acontract with Pafilia for the construction of a marina in Paphos. But in October 2018, Pafilia decided towithdraw its interest.