Neapolis to inject millions into Paphos
Plans by the Leptos Group to invest CYP 550 mln to develop 1,100 donums (decares) of land in the Paphos Yeroskipou area, similar to the successful business model adopted by Dubai, is meeting opposition from rival property developers and the Green Party, but should sail through once people realise the short and long term gains for the country.
The once sleepy Dubai, the poorer of the six emirates making up the UAE with minimal oil reserves, has overtaken Cyprus as the financial, tourism and entertainment centre of the region by combining its massive property development with high quality infrastructure and community services such as universities, hospitals and other cultural facilities.
While people here are still talking about the need to make this island the regional centre for financial and medical services, education and culture, Dubai and others have long sailed past Cyprus, mostly because “we have talked about the idea, but never taken steps to implement it.”
That is all about to change once the Leptos Group is allowed to complete the Neapolis Development Project, a unique project to transform the brazen fields in the Yeroskipou area into a multi-million pound investment project. The plan is to inject millions back into the area and the economy, create thousands of jobs and attract high quality tourists that Cyprus has been longing for but has never found the right product to offer in order to attract them.
The owner of the project is Pandora Investments Public Co. Ltd. which is listed on the CSE and has already paid for all the land it has bought. The Leptos Group is the principle shareholder in Pandora, although the company has over 4,000 shareholders.
The project, once operational, will be the first of its kind where the state provides town planning incentives to the private sector in order to implement its strategic goals.
In a way, it is a unique venture, by which the investor also undertakes to meet significant social requirements of the state. This is a new concept that has not yet been tried on the scale envisaged in Paphos.
Strategic Development Plan
The Leptos Group has come under attack from other property developers and the Green Party despite the fact that the project is in line with the government’s Strategic Development Plan for 2004-2006.
The state plan envisages the development of Cyprus into an International Service Centre in order to lessen its dependence on the traditional tourism product of sun-sea, which is becoming obsolete and attracting low-income tourists.
The Neapolis project complies with town and country planning laws and especially with the Paphos Master Plan, which includes neighbouring Yeroskipou and states that private development may be undertaken on such large estates as long as they serve a social purpose for the common good.
The preconditions specified in the master plan for such mega projects include the creation of a university, a top class hospital, parks and public areas and the creation of research centres.
The government declared that planning permission for the commercial part of the development will not be granted until substantial progress has been made on the other preconditions.
This may also be why two successive governments have not objected to the Neapolis project, since it aims to fulfill all the conditions set forth in the government’s own development plan.
Neapolis Project
The Leptos Group designed the Neapolis project with the main components to be completed over a 15-year period on a large tract of land in Yeroskipou. It is about 800 metres from the coastal road but is not designed as a tourist project. It will include:
* a university with plans to begin operations in 2008, gradually rising to 300 academics and supporting staff for 3,000 students;
* a 110-bed total care hospital, aimed at the overseas market but with facilities which are not presently available in Paphos. It should start operations in 2008 and will include a state of the art rehabilitation centre and facilities for the elderly;
* a sports centre serving the university and nearby residents;
* a diverse cultural compound, including a museum, a handicrafts market and other cultural activities;
* a garden around the restoration of the antiquities, including a glass house, botanical gardens, herbs and aromatic garden and agricultural museum;
* an innovation, research and development centre, drawing on expertise from the university, hospital and international companies within the project;
* a business park designed to attract international companies;
* a modest-sized hotel of only 100 rooms to cater to the business visitors of the project; and,
* a private school to make Paphos more attractive for overseas residents.
The project will also enjoy a high level residential development as well as commercial development planned primarily to meet the needs of the residents of the estate.
Financial details
Pandora Investments has stated publicly that the total investment for the project will reach CYP 550 mln, with the annual net foreign exchange inflows of over CYP 100 mln. Pandora estimates that the total spending during the 2006-2018 period will reach CYP 1.2 bln with the gradual creation of 8,000 jobs and government revenue climbing by CYP 300 mln.
Pandora will start the Neapolis development with the university, hospital and the main public park with the associated infrastructure. Upscale residential units will be built gradually over a 15-year period at a pace that is not anticipated to flood the market.
Over 70% of the land is devoted to open spaces and parks.
Opposition to the project
Opposition to the project is directed from three main groups, in addition to the Green Party.
The first are tho owners of property east and west of Neapolis. They say they are not against development and their real motive is that although they have the same zoning coefficient similar to Neapolis, they want to develop the areas under ordinary building zone provisions without the social obligations imposed on the Leptos Group by the government. What they fail to realise is that real estate values in the area have risen dramatically due to Neapolis and are expected to keep climbing with the progress of the works there.
While the majority of hoteliers in the area support the project, a single hotel owner about 800 metres away from Neapolis is reported to have joined the opposition camp, afraid that the 100-room hotel to be built within the new complex will affect business, but failing to realise that if the project takes off and attracts the high-net worth individuals that Leptos is targeting, then all bookings in the area will also rise.
The third group of those opposing the project are property developers who are afraid that if Leptos is allowed to proceed with Neapolis and succeeds in attracting new up-market visitors, then they will be left to fight for the shrinking number of low-income visitors and see the gap between them and Leptos widen.
The Green Party wants more green and controlled development, but has yet to state the real reasons why it opposes the project, at a time when all the other parties say that the project is within the provisions of the government development plan, which has been approved by the House.
Dubai concept
Leptos wants to bring the successful Dubai concept to Cyprus. In a nutshell, it means thinking big and regional rather than small and within the limited boundaries of Cyprus.
The Leptos Group, one of the island’s top property and hotel groups, has realised that the small projects that usually dot Cyprus were good a decade or two ago, but are not any more.
Apart from being the largest property development, attracting people with money to spend who would otherwise not come to Cyprus, the Neapolis project also targets multinationals, encouraging them to relocate their regional operations to Paphos, use its research facilities and buy villas, homes and luxury flats for company or executive use combined with extensive sports and other recreational facilities.
It also be the first serious attempt to attract to Paphos a new breed of up-market and corporate customers now rushing to Dubai.
As for the criticism that Leptos will build 2025 shops in the project, that has been rejected as a myth since the total number of shops will not exceed 150.
What do you think? I get the feeling that Leptos Group paid to get this article
