.
What seems to be different about the new consortium bidding to take over and develop Larnaca marina and port is that the investors are keen to help develop the town’s economy as well, not just the mooring and berthing facilities for luxury yachts.
One of the plans includes setting up a proper boat yard, not just for repairs, but for actually building of vessels, with support services creating new job opportunities.
This means that, once again, it is the private sector and not the government that is driving development and innovation, by creating workplaces for talented people of all ages who would otherwise have to abandon their trade and seek casual labour in other sectors.
All that this government and its predecessors enjoy boasting about is that they have introduced one ‘innovative’ policy or another, are driving growth in the employment sector and are helping young graduates find jobs. What a joke!
In fact, all new policies introduced in recent decades have been generated by market forces, with no state planning and in many cases no public funding. Unemployment has been coming down because of employers and entrepreneurs willing to make a sacrifice and invest in local human resources.
The bulk of the economic sector, small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), continue to struggle due to lack of finance and liquidity from the banks and no incentives whatsoever from the state, with the government budget dedicated entirely to preserving civil service jobs, simply because we live from one election to another, with the political parties giving in to their demands and pandering to the whims of trade unions.
The forex boom, although welcome, has spiraled out of control, with the biggest benefits going to state coffers in the form of taxes and fees, lawyers and accountants and of course the property sector, with Limassol rents going through the roof, for no reason, with a property bubble around the corner.
For more than three decades, Israel has invested in innovation, because that was the only that Israeli goods and services could remain competitive, and even at the edge of new technological advancements.
Our neighbour was riding the enormous wave of incubator programmes, something that never picked up in Cyprus.
Instead, what we have today is some private initiatives, with mentors providing some guidance to a handful of start-ups.
The Pentakomo project, an area designated for mixed-use development by international start-ups or well-known high-tech brands, is a total failure, because there is nobody interested to develop it.
The new ‘Film in Cyprus’ scheme devised by consultants to the government, has faltered on the fact that no one did their homework properly, and the legislations and regulations that would boost investments in the cinematic sector were faulty, incompatible and probably driving the commercial interest of a select few, again with ties to political parties and government officials.
Cyprus has no manufacturing sector, tourism is vulnerable to faster-evolving rival destinations, investment in research is pitiful, our services sector has become a cash machine for tax authorities without any afterthought of what will follow a decade from now, farming and agriculture has never been a priority because the votes are not enough.
And the only true development is in the shipping and energy sectors, where once again the government has put all its eggs in one basket, focusing solely on natural gas exploration and the East Med pipeline, that seems to be moving farther away from being racialised.
And imagine the unruly way thoughts are being thrown around about creating an energy wealth fund based on the Norwegian model. How can we consider this if Oslo has offered advice, but we have been too pompous to accept such an offer?
After all, with the way the government handled the halloumi debacle and no plan on how to fix the problem, we cannot hope of any clear present or future policy for any sector.
Once again, it’s up to the private sector to pick up the pieces and rebuild the economy
