CYPRUSHOMEANDLIVING
UPDATE APRIL 2010
CONSTRUCTION is set to begin on a €400 million-plus international-standard 18-hole golf course and country club project in the Tersefanou area in Larnaca, with planning permits for another two golf projects expected in a month’s time.
In receiving the green light from the Town Planning Department (TPD), the Medgolf Group – comprising the Hassapis Group, DJK Group and Sakyrco Construction Ltd – committed to complete the project 2.5 years after ground is broken.
The plans for the Medgolf Larnaca Golf Course and Country Club cover a total of 1.6 square kilometres. They include an international-standard 18-hole golf course designed by market leader European Golf Design (EGD), covering 0.57 square kilometres, plus a clubhouse and luxury spa.
The project also includes a total of 500-550 properties – including 300 luxury villas – located on a network of paved paths, and incorporating a square designed to host musical and other events.
Hassapis Group managing director and project spokesman Floros Voniatis told the Mail that apart from the golf course itself and the clubhouse, the project’s infrastructure will include internal roads built to a high specification set by the TPD.
“We’ve been told the internal roads must incorporate cycling paths, planted verges, and so on. In fact, a cycling path will run under the main road connecting the highway and Tersefanou village, and we’ve also been told to build a two-lane roundabout, which will be a first for us”, Voniatis said.
The total cost for the infrastructure alone will exceed €60 million, including an estimated €6-7 million for the project’s own desalination plant. “The landscaping will involve the planting of some 400,000 trees, bushes, plants and flowers”, Voniatis added.
The town-planning requirements for each of the ten licensed golf-course projects scheduled to start construction in 2010 were significantly tightened up by the government in March last year. Each proposed project was henceforth required to be self-sufficient in water via its own desalination plant, and other criteria addressing the energy impact of the plants were also introduced.
Importantly, the government plugged a loophole that allowed a licence-holder to build the luxury villas and houses nominally associated with the golf-course, without any obligation to proceed with completing the course and opening its doors to golfers.
In practice, the old basis for the projects would have allowed the licence-holder to simply cash in and walk away, having made an enormous profit from legally building housing stock on what was until then relatively worthless agricultural land.
Voniatis said that the Medgolf project will start with the infrastructure and course itself “before offering to sell (property) off-plan. The golfers need to see that it is there.”
Recent press reports suggest that licence-holders are unhappy at what they regard as unjustifiable delays by various departments of the Interior Ministry.
Voniatis referred to the fact that Medgolf’s application had taken five years to be approved.
Senior ministry official Christodoulos Ktorides said four months ago that despite the government’s wish to proceed quickly, the often ambitious applications were proving more difficult and time-consuming to process than anticipated by all concerned.
Last weekend, Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis denied the accusation of excessive or unjustified delay by any of its departments. He added that another two golf-course projects were expected to receive their permits in a month’s time, as the two companies involved had worked with the ministry to resolve outstanding problems with their applications.
In receiving the green light from the Town Planning Department (TPD), the Medgolf Group – comprising the Hassapis Group, DJK Group and Sakyrco Construction Ltd – committed to complete the project 2.5 years after ground is broken.
The plans for the Medgolf Larnaca Golf Course and Country Club cover a total of 1.6 square kilometres. They include an international-standard 18-hole golf course designed by market leader European Golf Design (EGD), covering 0.57 square kilometres, plus a clubhouse and luxury spa.
The project also includes a total of 500-550 properties – including 300 luxury villas – located on a network of paved paths, and incorporating a square designed to host musical and other events.
Hassapis Group managing director and project spokesman Floros Voniatis told the Mail that apart from the golf course itself and the clubhouse, the project’s infrastructure will include internal roads built to a high specification set by the TPD.
“We’ve been told the internal roads must incorporate cycling paths, planted verges, and so on. In fact, a cycling path will run under the main road connecting the highway and Tersefanou village, and we’ve also been told to build a two-lane roundabout, which will be a first for us”, Voniatis said.
The total cost for the infrastructure alone will exceed €60 million, including an estimated €6-7 million for the project’s own desalination plant. “The landscaping will involve the planting of some 400,000 trees, bushes, plants and flowers”, Voniatis added.
The town-planning requirements for each of the ten licensed golf-course projects scheduled to start construction in 2010 were significantly tightened up by the government in March last year. Each proposed project was henceforth required to be self-sufficient in water via its own desalination plant, and other criteria addressing the energy impact of the plants were also introduced.
Importantly, the government plugged a loophole that allowed a licence-holder to build the luxury villas and houses nominally associated with the golf-course, without any obligation to proceed with completing the course and opening its doors to golfers.
In practice, the old basis for the projects would have allowed the licence-holder to simply cash in and walk away, having made an enormous profit from legally building housing stock on what was until then relatively worthless agricultural land.
Voniatis said that the Medgolf project will start with the infrastructure and course itself “before offering to sell (property) off-plan. The golfers need to see that it is there.”
Recent press reports suggest that licence-holders are unhappy at what they regard as unjustifiable delays by various departments of the Interior Ministry.
Voniatis referred to the fact that Medgolf’s application had taken five years to be approved.
Senior ministry official Christodoulos Ktorides said four months ago that despite the government’s wish to proceed quickly, the often ambitious applications were proving more difficult and time-consuming to process than anticipated by all concerned.
Last weekend, Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis denied the accusation of excessive or unjustified delay by any of its departments. He added that another two golf-course projects were expected to receive their permits in a month’s time, as the two companies involved had worked with the ministry to resolve outstanding problems with their applications.
If You Are Interested In The Forthcoming Golf At Tersefanou Look Out For Our Regular Updates here at Cyprus Home and Living
Contact Us At: andy@cyprushomeandliving.com Telephone: 00357 97727127 or 99169045
Eventually we appear to have very positive news regarding the final approval for the Larnaka Golf and country club. Living in Tersefanou and keeping our ears to the ground we have heard numerous stories and hearsay regarding the final endorsement and the commencement of work for a number of weeks now however nothing concrete enough to report on the website. The following statement appears to substantiate that permission has been granted and that work may at last get underway. We will of course monitor the situation vigilantly over these coming weeks and report any hard fact as an update within this feature.
Providers Of Management & Maintenance In The Larnaca District Of Cyprus. Tersefanou Specialist Agent