Greek state-owned asset management fund to take key role
The Greek state-owned asset management company Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRDAF) was on Tuesday placed in the driving seat of the Larnaca port’s development.
The decision was made in a meeting held by President Nikos Christodoulides and Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades, with Larnaca mayor Andreas Vyras expressing his satisfaction at the decision.
He said he was pleased that “no possibility of development has been ruled out … if a study determines so much”, and added that the previously planned protests, due to have taken place Saturday, have been cancelled.
Vafeades said a study into possible development plans would be completed “within six months”, before being put before the relevant authorities for a decision to be made.
This, he said, will ideally see “a tender immediately put out, not for a manager, but for an investor, and for the implementation of whatever development is included in the study”.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, he explained that with the HRDAF now in place, it is hoped that once plans have been drawn up for the development of both the marina and the port, the government will then be able to find a private investor to take on the control of both sites on the basis of a public-private partnership, which will operate in a similar fashion to the way Hermes airports operate Larnaca and Paphos airports.
He added that Tuesday’s discussion on the port and marina’s future was “thorough”, and that “all options have been put on the table”, with important decisions being made.
One such decision, he said, will see “dredging and renovation works” at the marina “progressing as planned”, with an architectural competition for the design of a new yacht club and landscaping to connect the marina with Finikoudes beach “progressing”.
“However, the most important thing that was decided today was that we are proceeding with an intergovernmental assignment of work, to a port development authority which has been established by Greece,” he said.
He added that that authority, namely the HRDAF, will be assigned the responsibility of carrying out a study on both the port and the marina, and that “as such, we no longer need to request offers from foreign experts.
“This is a decision which dramatically reduces the implementation time of this study, and will help us to shorten the decision-making process for the future of this development to a very large extent,” he said.

He added that once the study has been completed, Larnaca municipality and other local stakeholders “should also express their views and opinions on how this area should develop”, so that “at the end of the day, a study will be put before society and before cabinet which will advise us on what the next day should look like”.
With this in mind, Vyras said he was satisfied that “we are now focusing on permanent development and a permanent solution for the future of the port, the marina and the land area”.
“So, our main request, which was precisely to focus on permanent development and a permanent solution for the port, the marina and the land area, has been accepted by the president, and we are starting work as soon as possible so that very soon, within the devised timelines, we will see how we are progressing,” he said.
The HRADF currently operates a number of ports in Greece, including those of Alexandroupoli, Lavrio, and Volos, Kavala’s commercial Philip II port, and the Corfu megayacht marina.
It takes over Larnaca port as part of the second “transition period” for the port as devised last year by Vafeades, with HRADF now operating the port while the government seeks a long-term investor to upgrade the infrastructure of both sites.
The government had announced in August that the development of Larnaca’s port and marina would be split into two projects, while Vafeades also brought forward the expected date of completion to September 2026, compared to the previously estimated date of March 2027.
The move comes after the government in May terminated its agreement with Kition Ocean Holdings, the company it had initially entrusted with a combined project which was set to cost €1.2 billion.
The contract was terminated after the government accused Kition of refusing to pay a requisite financial guarantee for the project’s operation and maintenance.
The government had insisted Kition pay a total of €8m, while Kition believed the figure had been agreed at €4.2m.
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