Larnaca airport construction disaster

Monday, December 7, 2009

By Dominic Freeman

larnaca airport new Although only a month old the brand new €656.3m airport in Larnaca is already showing signs that it was not designed properly. The ground floor luggage area is flooded, mud is pouring into the arrival’s hall and the main terminal roof is leaking in several places. If this was not enough, rain damage has caused the elevator to short circuit and has destroyed several electrical circuits.

It would be easy to blame Cypriots for this disaster but the new terminal was built by a major French company, Bouyges Batiment International, and is operated by the Hermes Airports Consortium. Perhaps they had been told that in never rains in Cyprus and that a project costing so much did not need to be weatherproof. This was not the case for Ercan airport which has not had the same problems despite the horrendous weather it has faced and having been renovated at a fraction of the cost of Larnaca airport.

Hopefully this will be the last of the rain stories as, from tomorrow, the weather is going to brighten up and we’ll be back to sunbathing in 20°C sunshine.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Transport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Richard Gray

07/12/2009 at 2:42 pm

The Turkish Cypriot owners of the land will be blamed as the land the Greeks stole off them to build the airport terminal was not in a good enough condition for the theft to be conducted in the first place! The GC’s will now ask for compensation from the TRNC!

Constructive or Abusive: 1 1

#942

Stelios Ioannou

07/12/2009 at 4:14 pm

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Unacceptable Behavior. Constructive or Abusive: 0 1

#943

Ian Reid

07/12/2009 at 5:06 pm

#944

Get Real!

07/12/2009 at 5:44 pm

#945

vaughan williams

08/12/2009 at 7:12 am

GR,

It may be unused (now) but it is part of the airport. I’d like to know the value of the airport so that we can work out what 1% of it is worth.

Good Contribution. Constructive or Abusive: 1 0

#949

Kyriacos

08/12/2009 at 10:17 pm

It is true, a part of the building that the new airport is grounded was TC land. But The land was not stolen from anybody it was legally expropriated at a fare price. In fact at the same price with a GC land. Unfortunately the money cannot be given directly to the Tc owners and they are provisionally putted into a bank account. BUT the money WILL be given to the TC owner with interest when ever the owner asks for it. The only reason we cannot give the money directly to the TC right now is because of the Turkish army controlling the North part that TC now live in. And to set things straight here.. Cyprus Government does not only expropriate TC land . in fact most of the times it expropriates GC land. Last year a field of mine was expropriated to be used for a road. Practically every GC had a part of his land expropriated by the Cyprus Gov. – given a refund and his land was used for the needs of infrastructure. And all highly developed countries do that.
All 50.000 TC refugees are welcome to return to the south and use their land. NO ONE will stop them. (and for what matters some TC did came back and now live free to the South part) Ofcourse thats not the case with the 180.000 GC refugees that were evicted from their homes in 1974. 180.000 refugees or any other GC whatsoever are not allowed to buy sell or even live to the north part despite the fact they are the legal owners of that land.
If they try do do so they will be arrested by the turkish army or even be killed.

I am quite sure Ercan airport was builded in GC land without even expropriating the land.

For those who do not know. Denktash in 83 illegally claimed that all GC land in the North now belongs to the ”TRNC”. And this is illegal my dear friends because according to the Human rights declaration NO authority whatsoever is allowed to mass-expropriate a vast area (like 50% of a country) for what ever reasons. No man or authority is allowed to take by force the property of another man. And even in cases that a small amount of land is expropriated by the state IF within the time of the next 2 years a building or a road of public interest is not builded there then the land is automatically returned back to the former owner. The owner is also allowed with a refund.

Therefore legally all GC land in TRNC still belongs to the GC and all TC land in the South still belongs to TC. Thats why Orams lost the case.

Dont get me wrong here..
GC do not ask you to demolish Hospitals, roads or any other form of infrastructure builded in GC land to the North because this is crazy. (Despite the fact the land was not expropriated by a legal authority and GC were not given any money for the lost of their properties.)
But GC cannot allow to illegally sell Gc land to ignorant foreigners like ORAMs in order to make Black money. This is WAY to unethical even for a Turk.

We want a REAL solution to the cyprus problem.
We want All troops (Greek Turkish British) out of Cyprus.
We want all Cypriots to be able to live united and free to the whole island.
We don’t need any Guarantor powers. Greece Turkey and Britain can might as well go fuck them selves.
And we want our land that was taken away from us by force.
In synopsis
All we ask is for our basic Human rights.
Is this so fucking difficult for you to understand?

#951

Portable Storage

09/12/2009 at 4:05 am

I think that people want a REAL solution to the cyprus problem.
People want All troops (Greek Turkish British) out of Cyprus.People want all Cypriots to be able to live united and free to the whole island.People don’t need any Guarantor powers. Greece Turkey and Britain can might as well go anywhere they want.

Thanks,
Portable Storage,
http://www.moveablecubicle.com

Constructive or Abusive: 0 0

#952

Dominic Freeman

09/12/2009 at 12:45 pm

“legally expropriated” what a quaint term, wasn’t that same term used by Hitler when he took the Jews’ property? I don’t think even the TCs are using that term for the land they took. “The money cannot be given directly to the TC owners,” is that because it would be “illegal” to give it to him. Are your arguments so weak that only by swearing can they have any force? Isn’t “carpetbaggers” strong enough any more?

#955

Emre Unel

09/12/2009 at 5:32 pm

For heavans sake lets stop accusing each other all the time about everything and anything.

Larnaca Airport is built on Turkish Cypriot land….so what. Ercan Airport (Tymbou) is built on Greek Cypriot land….so what.

These are TODAYS REALITIES!!

As long as we Cypriots keep on indulging themselves in this fruitless shortsighted Vogel Strauss mentality and do not break down these stupid walls in our brains we will get no where.

We always think Cyprus is the center of the world and everyone should have pity on us and our problems. Well, this is not so. In fact the world does not give a damn about our island or our problems.

Because the world has other many more important issues to deal with.

So it is up to US and only US to make this island a decent and peaceful home for all.

Better get our act together before it is too late.

#961

Levent

09/12/2009 at 6:07 pm

The fact is that the Gurantors powers are there to protect all groups of people from digging big mass graves and pushing mothers, children and grandparents in that huge grave.

The gurantor powers is a must for any new solution to the Cyprus issue. If you had not pushed people into deep holes and burried them alive may be we would of not need the gurantor powers. I am sorry but we cannot make any concessions. It was a fact that the majoirty of Greek Cypriots wanted union with Greece and kill the Turks of Cyprus.

#962

09/12/2009 at 6:54 pm