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[zan]

Technology Park finally underway
By Charles Charalambous
Published on August 21, 2010
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GROUND has finally been broken for the government’s revised Technology Park project in the Pentakomo area near Limassol, only a matter of days before the expropriation orders for the land were due to expire, which would have triggered its return to its owners.
Commerce and Tourism Minister Antonis Paschalides was present to see the start of work on the internal road network, as part of the project’s infrastructure construction phase, which is scheduled to take three years at a cost of €6.5 million. The 2010 budget allocation of €2.5 million covers the preliminary design and planning costs, as well as the cost of expropriating some two square kilometres of land.
“The important thing is that the Technology Park will go ahead. We are honouring our obligation so that we do not lose the expropriated land, by starting work on the road,” Paschalides said.
The minister told the Mail that a lot of incorrect figures had been quoted in the press, regarding the cost to be meted from state coffers.
The initial budget allocated in 2006 was €82 million. After various delays, the approach road network was built in 2008, connecting the park’s site to Ayios Georgios Alamanou and Governor’s Beach.
In August 2009 the Cabinet decided to go ahead rather than cancel project altogether, but scaled it back in terms of both physical area and scope to improve the chances of being completed, approving €21.6 million in the process to cover preliminary construction and management and maintenance costs for nine years.
This was further reduced to €10 million in January 2010 on account of the economic crisis, but in April, the Cabinet agreed to increase the budget to €50 million. It now appears that the government intends to limit its actual spending to €6.5 million over three years.
Paschalides explained that once the infrastructure phase has been completed, future tenants will bear their own costs of raising whatever buildings and installations they may need. “The whole project will be built over various phases. We will put the basic infrastructure in place – roads, water and electricity supplies, internet cabling – and nothing else,” he said.
“We have simplified things. There is no question of our building everything and then trying to rent or sell premises to various companies,” he added.
The plan to create a Technology Park was approved by the previous government in February 2006, with the stated aim of diversifying the economy by making Cyprus a centre for software development and hi-tech business. Four years ago, the then Commerce Minister George Lillikas talked up the prospect of Microsoft participating in the park.
Another incentive was to encourage more Cypriots to enter the field of scientific research, and to attract Cypriot researchers already employed abroad to come back to work in Cyprus.
The aim is still to attract both foreign and domestic companies operating in the fields of nanotechnology, biochemistry, energy, telecommunications, health services, the environment, IT and shipping.
Paschalides confirmed to the Mail that so far, the Technological University of Cyprus (TEPAK) and the Cyprus International Institute for the Environment and Public Health – which TEPAK now oversees – have been confirmed as tenants.
He said that there have been other expressions of interest, both domestically and from abroad, including from the world’s biggest internet search engine company Google, but one can only expect interest to firm up when the park’s basic infrastructure is in place.
“There have been indications of interest, but companies are not about to sign up to something on trust – they want to see things happening. Some people said to me: ‘We’ve been hearing the same story for ten years, but we want proof that you are serious about it’. So this is the message we want to send out, that we are serious about doing something rather than just talking about it,” Paschalides said.
The minister was scathing about projected revenue figures that have often been quoted in relation to the project.
According to the initial feasibility studies, it could potentially have provided an annual income of €780 million per year for the period 2008-2012 and would initially create 270 new jobs. The number of jobs provided by the park was projected to increase to 1,800 within 15 years, and 15,000 when operating at its optimal capacity.
“Almost €800 million revenues? To me that sounds ridiculous. There is not a single technology park in the world that makes that kind of money. Technology parks are not very profitable, nor are they intended to be. They are infrastructure projects designed to support research and thereby help the companies involved to create synergies, which benefit a country’s economy,” Paschalides said.

[Mr. T]

What is the Turkish name for Ayios Philonas?

I have attempted to locate it on Google Earth but the Greek version of the name isn't recognised.

[Get Real!]

What is the Turkish name for Ayios Philonas?

I have attempted to locate it on Google Earth but the Greek version of the name isn't recognised.

You want the "Turkish name" of a Christian saint?

Try Hodja Villos!

[Malapapa]

What is the Turkish name for Ayios Philonas?

I have attempted to locate it on Google Earth but the Greek version of the name isn't recognised.

You want the "Turkish name" of a Christian saint?

Try Hodja Villos!

There's a simple formular to this, Mr T. You add -oglu to the first name and -azimagusa to the second name. Hence:

Ayiosoglu Philonazimagusa.

[Nikitas]

Zan weighs in with a "balancing" view trying to show that the construction of a Tech-Park in Limassol sort of balances the destruction of Ayios Philonas.

The usurper's mind at work once again.

[denizaksulu]

What is the Turkish name for Ayios Philonas?

I have attempted to locate it on Google Earth but the Greek version of the name isn't recognised.

You want the "Turkish name" of a Christian saint?

Try Hodja Villos!

There's a simple formular to this, Mr T. You add -oglu to the first name and -azimagusa to the second name. Hence:

Ayiosoglu Philonazimagusa.

So there is a god after all.

My book of names suggest the Turkish name is Ay Filon. It seems to have escaped the ignominy of having a 'Turkish' name.

Perhaps the Greek speaking Turks in the region still revere St. Philona

[zan]

Zan weighs in with a "balancing" view trying to show that the construction of a Tech-Park in Limassol sort of balances the destruction of Ayios Philonas.

The usurper's mind at work once again.

how do you appropriating land then Nikitas


half this message disappeared

[denizaksulu]

What is the Turkish name for Ayios Philonas?

I have attempted to locate it on Google Earth but the Greek version of the name isn't recognised.

The ancient Greek name is given as 'CARPASIA'. Try and make sense out that. It seems to have given the name to the peninsula.

[Get Real!]

What is the Turkish name for Ayios Philonas?

I have attempted to locate it on Google Earth but the Greek version of the name isn't recognised.

The ancient Greek name is given as 'CARPASIA'. Try and make sense out that. It seems to have given the name to the peninsula.

The official name is “Ayios Philon” (not Philonas) and it’s just a church, so you shouldn’t be able to find it on a map.

[zan]

Nikitas

Just making sure that the myth of any building in the TRNC is destruction and that in the "RoC" is progress, does not continue......