Finance Minister, Charilaos Stavrakis, seems to have returned with new proposals after his short trip to Qatar, reheating expectations that the state construction company, Qatari Diar, is still interested in promoting the construction of a luxury hotel in Nicosia city centre.

Within the framework of the agreement that is currently under deliberations, Qatari Diar will submit to the joint venture the value of the state land opposite Hilton, which will host the new hotel.

The government’s consultants evaluated the property at €135 million while those of Qatar at €38 million, creating a big gap that seemed to have closed in the middle.

Recently, however, Qatari Diar was alleged to have sent a letter to the government, saying that the property is evaluated at €50 million. The government related this letter indirectly to the Turkish intervention.

To clarify Qatar’s intentions, Finance Minister and Government Spokesman, Stephanos Stephanou visited Qatar during the weekend and it seems that they did not came back empty-handed.

According to Chairman of the joint venture, Christos Mavrellis, Mr. Stavrakis returned with new proposals and, therefore, he will hold a meeting with the three members of the joint venture on behalf of the Republic to inform them accordingly and take the final decisions.

The message on behalf of the Republic is that all margins must be exhausted towards the achievement of the agreement due to its economic and political importance.

“The agreement with Qatar must not be lost and all margins must be exhausted since the investment will have multiple benefits for the Cyprus economy. At the same time, it will be the beginning for new investments on the island, since the Qatari businessmen follow their Emir in the investments”, member of the joint venture, Andreas Pittas, told StockWatch.