New luxury hotels to be constructed in occupied Agios Epiktitos villageTurkish Cypriot weekly Cyprus Today (14.12.11) reports that four new five-star hotels are set to dominate the skyline of Agios Epiktitos village in the occupied area of Cyprus. The paper notes that the luxury facilities represent hundreds of millions of dollars of investment to be made during the next three years.
Occupied Agios Epiktitos village will see two neighbouring projects, slated to begin early next year, close to Diana Beach. The $140 million, 1,500-bed ETS Group Lara Park Hotel at Lara Beach is expected to be completed in 2013. Plans are also in the pipeline for a smaller hotel at Lara Beach, although few details have so far been revealed about this project.
The area, which already hosts the $220 million five-star Cratos Premium Hotel, is also set for a dual-carriageway road-widening project. “Municipality” construction department spokesman Ahmet Rencber said this was scheduled for March 2012.
Ahmet Arkin, a partner in occupied Keryneia’s Savoy Ottoman Palace Hotel and Casino, confirmed foundation work on one new leisure resort – the 600-bed North Star Hotel and Casino – would begin on land leased from the breakaway regime, near Villa Firtina, which is owned by the so-called Turkish embassy.
He said: “We are planning a more modern and minimalist style than the Savoy, with, of course, a casino, marina harbour, man-made beach and spa. This is a long-term plan for a new market, scheduled for completion in 2014, and aimed at customers from the Middle East, Azerbaijan and the USA.”
Turkish Cypriot veteran politician and businessman Semsi Kazim plans to build a 600-bed family hotel, as yet unnamed, on his adjacent land, next to a protected archaeological site near the Hazreti Omer shrine. The site has been investigated and passed by the Department of Antiquities.
A spokesman for the Lefkosia town planning department in the breakaway regime, responsible for occupied Keryneia, confirmed the project, in the name of Jeda Trading, was being processed.
Additionally, the self-styled mayor of occupied Agios Epiktitos Mehmet Hulusioglu said: “This will be a valuable source of income for the municipality, which has seen a 45 per cent increase in- revenue this year from existing hotels. These hotels provide local employment and entertainment for young people.”
