The contract to build the long-anticipated Paphos marina has been awarded to Pafilia by the ‘new’ Marina Management Committee, which was appointed in March to examine documents submitted as part of the marina tender process. (Copyright © Cyprus Property News)
AFTER nearly three decades of bureaucratic delays and legal wrangles, the contract to build the Paphos marina has been awarded to Pafilia by the ‘new’ Marina Management Committee. According to the Greek language newspaper Phileleftheros, the committee had been examining the issue for the past two months before informing Pafilia of its decision yesterday. The Paphos marina at Potima bay between Kissonerga and Pegeia will be a crucial project for Paphos. When finally built, it will have a capacity of 1,000 berths. The project will take approximately three years to be completed. In addition to berthing for 1,000 vessels, the project will include more than 42,000 square metres of residential and commercial developments. The Paphos marina project has been under discussion since initial studies were carried out nearly 30 years ago. In 2008 the project was awarded to the Pandora Group (Leptos) following a hotly contested bidding process with Aristo and Pafilia. But Aristo, the runner-up in the contest, objected to the award alleging irregularities in the submission of documents required for the tendering process.
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Aristo’s objection was upheld and a committee was set up to examine the situation. Subsequently Pandora’s contract was annulled and the contract to build the marina was awarded to Aristo. Pandora then decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court on several legal grounds. It claimed that it was not consulted during the revision procedures where their initial tender was re-examined. In December 2015 the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Poseidon Grand Marina of Paphos, a joint-venture in which Aristo was a major stakeholder – Poseidon were subsequently awarded the contract in May 2016. But although it had won the legal battle the Poseidon consortium failed to supply adequate evidence of its ability to finance the project and Pafilia, which was next on the list of tenders, was asked to provide evidence that it could fund the construction and running of the marina.. Poseidon appealed to the Supreme Court that the committee responsible for overseeing the Paphos marina tender process was unlawful – and in January 2018 their appeal was upheld. The Council of Ministers appointed a ‘new’ Marina Management Committee in March this year to examine documents submitted as part of the marina tender process and has just awarded the contract to Pafilia. It may be third time lucky for Pafilia but we will have to see if any of the other bidders mounts a legal challenge.
