Fuel storage tanks in Larnaca were dismantled on Friday in a “historic” day for the city, Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said. Lakkotrypis noted that the city governance and its citizens have been seeking the removal of the fuel installations from the city’s seafront for a “long time”. The installations of the Cyprus Fuel Storage Company (KETAP) take up a space of 150,000 square metres of Laranca’s eastern seafront. The strategic fuel reserves previously held in these installations have been moved to the VTTV storage facility at Vasiliko. “This is a very important day, we made the first step and the remaining companies will follow suit to free the bay of Larnaca for tourist development,” Lakkotrypis said speaking at press conference. He added that “this area has served Cyprus for a long time but has completed its life cycle,” noting this dismantling will be carried out in three phases. The first phase covers the dismantling and removal of fuel storage facilities, which will require three to four months, followed by the dismantling of private storage tanks by year-end and the removal of gas installations at a later stage. Lakkotrypis said that an environmental impact assessment report will be submitted in 12 months. He added that it would take six months to design a plan for the rehabilitation of the site. Speaking to the press and replying to a question on how the government would force the removal of the private fuel storage installations, Lakkotrypis “this will be done with a new Decree with aggressive but realistic timeframes providing options for their removal from Larnaka.” The Decree for the removal of private storage installations expires on January 31. “We have to keep in mind the country’s energy supply, we could not leave the country without fuel either as regards the reserves held by KETAP as well as the operation of the private fuel companies,” he said, adding that the Ministry has expedited the issuing of licenses for the construction of private storage installations in Vasiliko. On the gas storage installations, Lakkotrypis said this issue is more complex as there is no other gas storage facility and hence the procedures for the construction of gas storage tanks at Vasiliko should be expedited. Larnaca Mayor Andreas Vyras hailed the commencement of the dismantling as a day that has been long awaited. He expressed concern over the dismantling of the private installations as well as the gas storage facilities. “The citizens of Larnaca cannot be blamed as they face major safety concerns, problems concerning the development of the city and we in cooperation with the government should give a definite solution,” he said. “We believe that today is the beginning of the end so that this area will constitute a new landmark for the new city we want to build; the city our fellow citizens have been dreaming of,” he said. Source: CNA- See more at: http://www.sigmalive.com/en/news/local/152150/larnaca-fuel-storage-facilities-dismantled-move-to-vasiliko#.dpuf
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