The members of the House Commerce Committee criticized strongly the government for the Labour Minister’s intention to start the construction of both the Limassol and Ayia Napa marinas in September.

Representative of the Commerce Ministry said that there are several legal impediments that the Ministry must examine before taking the final decisions.

According to the legal service’s opinion, it is doubtful whether the construction of the Ayia Napa marina will ever start.

According to the opinion, the time that passed between the cancellation of the competition for the marina until now is such that could not justify a 4-year delay for the enforcement of the decision. And this is because this action might be regarded as direct assignment and might oppose to the national law.

As for the claiming of compensations for the inconvenience and the losses, the Attorney General has doubts as to whether they are entitled to additional compensations.

The members of the Committee support that the opinion is obscure and urged the Commerce Ministry to start the construction of the marina because this is to the public interest. Chairman of the Committee, Lefteris Christoforou expressed the hope that this project will be constructed otherwise the government and the Labour Minister will be exposed.

EDEK MP, Giorgos Varnavas said that it is unacceptable for the government to announce the construction of the marina six months ago and then to make excuses so as not to start the project.

DIKO MP, Angelos Votsis talked about the government’s difficulties, while AKEL MP, Andreas Mouskallis urged the government and the Council of Ministers to take the political decision, surmounting the legal problems.