The cabinet is today expected to approve the five-member steering committee that will be in charge of overlooking the Ayia Napa marina project.

According to Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides, who yesterday discussed the matter with the House Commerce Committee, his ministry will work intensively towards starting the project, after the steering committee has been approved and the relevant contract examined by the Legal Services.

Paschalides said the ministry had initially submitted a proposal to the Cabinet for a steering committee that would be under the responsibility of the Public Works Department.

But after the Department refused, he prepared a new proposal for a five-member committee, which will be discussed at the Cabinet today.

Committee Chairman Lefteris Christoforou of DISY was especially critical of the delays noted in the specific construction.

“This unfavourable treatment of free Famagusta has been going on for years,” he said, calling on the government to finally speed up efforts to build the marina.

AKEL's Stavros Evagorou agreed. “The construction of the Ayia Napa marina reminds me of the scenarios that took place with the airports, which took 17 years to materialise,” he said.