One kilometre of the coastline between the Ayia Thekla and Makronissos beach has been fenced off and more than 200 workers are working day and night to transformthe area into a marina complete with berths, services, commercial developments, villas and two towers.

“Most of it is built in the sea, because we are only able to go 45 metres inland because of restrictions due to the agreement,” Ceo of the developer Stavros Caramondanis explained at the site. Equipment is busy with land reclamation, and huge parts of what used to be sea just four months ago are now land which can be sold complete with title deeds. “We are changing the map of Cyprus,” Caramondanis said.

“Nobody has ever added so much land to Cyprus.”

The company is also constructing a wave breaker from the east to the west, for which 9,000 concrete blocks are needed, as well as other wave absorbing blocks. More than 1,000 of them are already on the site, the most visible evidence of the project so far.

In all of this the company is working with the government, taking care that all inspections are carried out. All the materials used are measured and recorded and the water quality is tested on a daily basis to satisfy environmental concerns.

The first part of the project, to be finished by June 2019, includes the berths, the services for the yachts, the government office for immigration and customs and the villas and the marina will then open.

The second part is the construction of two twisted towers of with 30 floors of apartments and the commercial spaces next to the beach, which is scheduled to be completed by October 2021.

However, the consortium has plans to build the commercial premises long before as this is where they expect to make a big profit.

When finished, the company is contracted to offer services for 50 years. As part of this, apart from the 360 berths an extra 240 dry docks are planned in a building which will enable yacht owners to keep their vessels sheltered when they are not using them. Necessary repairs can be carried out in the building as well.

Another service will be the renting out of sold properties as many investors are only interested in buying villas or apartments to make a profit, not to live in them.

Construction of the entire project is estimated to cost €250 million and will employ 800 people. The project is being carried out by MM Makronisos Marina Ltd, whose shareholders are Gemini Real Estates Ltd owned by the Egyptian investor Naguib Sawiris and the Cyprus-based Caramondani Group.

Source: Cyprus Mail