The privatisation of the Kyrenia port is “in the final stage”, the north’s ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli said on Wednesday.
Speaking to Kibris TV, he said the ‘government’ has “reached the final step” in its efforts to privatise the port, and that he hopes that a tender will be held at some point this month.
He also said a new tender is being held to find a private operating company at the Famagusta port.
“The term of the previous company ended four years ago, and extensions are being added all the time. While I cannot find money for the drainage of the port’s dirty wells, five people are earning millions of liras. A tender is being held now. I think it will end this week,” he said.
“It is now essential for us to operate the ports as a cooperative effort between the public and private sector. It is also essential to understand that this is inevitable.”
With this in mind, he said the current state of the north’s ports is “very bad”.
“If we cannot even find money in our budget to buy toilet paper, it is not possible for us to make the investment of 100 million TL (€2.7m) that the port needs. Then, what will you do? You will do what the rest of the world is doing. You will pave the way for the port to be structured as a cooperation between the public and private sectors,” he said.
He then moved to pour scorn on those who have opposed the ports’ privatisation.
“They say, ‘no, it is the state’s property, we will not let it be touched.’ My friend, I always say that if we had accepted the Annan Plan, if we had become a member of the European Union, if Cyprus would have been whole, would you have been able to say, ‘don’t let anyone touch the ports, or [electricity authority] Kib-Tek, or the telecommunications authority’?”
Earlier, Arikli had been keen to stress the dire state of the Famagusta port in particular, saying it has “come to the point of collapse due to negligence”.
He had said that required “urgent” repairs to the ports had been estimated to cost between $5 million (€4.7 million) and $8 million (€7.5 million).
He had also announced plans to construct a new port in Galateia for the purpose of container and cargo transportation, while the existing Famagusta port “will provide completely tourism-oriented services”.
“The ports in Famagusta and Kyrenia are in urban areas and there is no possibility of expansion. We are considering Galateia as an alternative to the Famagusta port. Famagusta port will become exclusively a tourism port. The shipyard and cargo port will be moved to Galateia,” he said.
He added, “We think of the Kyrenia port as purely a port for tourism. There will be no lorry transportation there. We will transfer lorry transportation to Karavostasi and Galateia, while we will also build a dock for cruise ships in Kyrenia.
“A port in Karavostasi will boost the TRNC economy. If we can use the land where the CMC mines were, there is a 2,000-acre plot of land there adjacent to the port. It will create tremendous wealth. We will build hotels and shopping malls and all kinds of other things in that place,” he said.
