{"id":2568044,"date":"2022-10-21T12:21:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T09:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buyhome.com\/?p=2568044"},"modified":"2022-10-21T12:27:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T09:27:21","slug":"larnaka-tower-project-cancelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buyhome.com\/larnaka-tower-project-cancelled\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr. President, why Larnaka Municipality is blocking a \u20ac100 million investment for so many years?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An Open Letter to Mr. Nicos Anastasiades <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mr. President,

On behalf of the shareholders of Lanomex Co Ltd, let me address this open letter to you, since the previous five letters sent to you in the past years have not been answered.
You were elected as the President of the Republic of Cyprus in 2013. Now you are beginning to summarize the results of your ten years in this high position, analyze what you have succeeded in implementing and what you have not, which promises you have succeeded in fulfilling. I’m sure that the situation with our company is very important from this point of view. Why, you may ask?<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I will try to answer. It was then, in 2013, that we started working on the Larnaka Tower project, willing to change for the better the center of Larnaka, which undoubtedly looks absolutely terrible and unattractive not only for tourists, but also for locals. We hoped that a serious investment of more than 100 million euros would help the city and the project would take its rightful place in the list of attractions of the city and become one of its iconic symbols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


In June 2014, I had the honor of presenting the project to you personally in your office. It was then that you assured me and other shareholders of the full support of the project from the state and you personally. I will not describe the entire story in detail, as the media have written about it from time to time, but I will only note that to date, not only has the project not even received a Town Planning Permit, but it is planning to be completely cancelled by the City Council, despite its approval and endorsement by all departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Mr. Vyras, on the one hand, assures us of his full support personally and verbally, while on the other hand, the employees of the Municipality are, firmly opposed to the project and is doing everything to prevent its implementation. When I protested in front of the Presidential Palace two years ago, Mr. Vyras blamed us, the shareholders of the company, for the delay by providing completely false information to the public.
Moreover, I received an official warning from him to stop criticizing him and the municipality’s work!

When I was in front of your office protesting, not a single public service worker approached me, I only saw the support of people passing by in cars. The same support was given to me by the people of Larnaka.
I have lived in this city for more than 28 years. Back in 1994, you were the one who invited me to Cyprus, your office helped me register my first companies and start working here. I’m grateful to you for that. I was proud when you were elected as President. I believed that Cyprus would change for the better. That’s why my partners and I started to invest already in 2014 in a big project in Pervolia, investing 60 million euros and also decided to build the Larnaka Tower complex.
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I listen carefully and read speeches by both you and government ministers about how important it is for the country to provide an attractive environment for investors. The right and beautiful words. Conferences and forums are devoted to this subject, and officials proudly announce the results. In fact, as you are well aware, last year, according to the Transparency International Corruption Index, Cyprus ranked first in Europe in terms of the growth of corruption. Because of corruption, a very good citizenship-by-investment program was cancelled, which gave an opportunity to develop many sectors of the economy, particularly the construction industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Mr. President, when I tried to inform you about the resistance of the local bureaucracy to the construction of our project and never received a response, I realized that the president certainly has much more important things to do than our project, even though it’s very important for the city. For Larnaka, an investment of a hundred million is not a small thing. But I also wrote to Mr. Averof and other officials. None of them replied to me. I think it’s just a system. It consists of the officials’ desire to outline a beautiful perspective and assure people of their desire and readiness to make changes for the better, while in reality they completely ignore the real problems.
Our personal experience of trying to invest in Larnaka gives me the right to say so.
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Going back to the beginning of this letter, I would like to reiterate that our Larnaka Tower project is a shining symbol of your presidency:
A lot of optimism at the beginning of it and a complete lack of results at the end of it.

The Municipality of Larnaca is well aware that they have already caused us enormous financial damage through their actions.
We have paid hundreds of thousands euros for the project, we are losing millions of euros due to years of delays in starting the project, the project is becoming toxic and unattractive to potential buyers. No one has been punished for this, no one has lost their positions, and Mr. Vyras will again try to be elected to office and will promise his support to the investors.
Why should we lose years of our lives and millions of euros due to the fault of a few government people? <\/p>\n\n\n\n


There is an active election campaign going on right now. Each of the candidates promises everything and everyone. He promises new life, elimination of bureaucratic delays, assistance to all who want to come to Cyprus with investments. In 28 years I have heard many such promises. Everybody promises, everybody is ready to help. It’s all up to the moment of election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am sure you will agree that today the center of Larnaka looks worse than any other city in Cyprus. The center will remain in the same bad condition while Mr. Vyras will continue to convince his constituents and assure them of his willingness to work for their benefit. I am not afraid of his threats. I’m just genuinely sorry that the city, its residents, its tourists are losing out. When I was protesting in front of your palace, a lot was written about it abroad, it was discussed by the international business community, the investment climate was damaged. But no one cares about this. This is a very worrying factor.
Of course, if necessary, I will come to your palace again and I will stay there as long as necessary, until the next presidential election. Even in spite of the total indifference of you and your subordinates.
But I’m not coming out to you, I’m coming out to the people; this is the only way I can deliver them the real essence of the problem we have as investors. This is the only way for foreign investors to learn about the problems with the support of their investments by the Cypriot authorities.
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My partners and I wish you good health and a long life. You will leave this position; the problems will remain. The people who create these problems will stay where they are. And I will still often hear from people wishing us success the phrase that has already become a meme: “This is Cyprus”.

The situation of the Larnaka Tower project has become critical. Without real intervention from you, Mr. President, and your government, it will never be resolved. We ask you and demand a full investigation – of sabotage by Larnaka municipality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would like to believe that at least this letter, the sixth in the last eight years, will not go unheeded and unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Sincerely yours,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nikolay Potapenko<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lanomex Development Limited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing Director<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An Open Letter to Mr. Nicos Anastasiades Mr. President, On behalf of the shareholders of Lanomex Co Ltd, let me address this open letter to you, since the previous five letters sent to you in the past years have not been answered.You were elected as the President of the Republic of Cyprus in 2013. Now… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":2568061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n