Demolition of Larnaca old refinery to start next March

Demolition work on the old refinery in Larnaca will start in March, chairman of the House Commerce Committee and DISY MP Zacharias Zachariou said on Thursday.

“The plan is that in January tenders will go out and in March the decommissioning of installations of liquid fuels at the old refinery will begin.” Most of the work is expected to be carried out by the end of the year.

The DISY MP went on to say that the demolition was the first part of the gradual transformation of the Larnaca seafront, which the residents of Larnaca have demanded for decades.

“The application was filed on November 30 at the Larnaca Municipality and on December 1 at the Environment Department to assess the environmental impact and to save time,” Zachariou added.

“In January 2017 the licences of the companies in the region will be terminated and earlier on they should have taken decisions to withdraw from this area,” he explained.

“Finally we will begin something Larnaca has envisioned for too long.”

Moving the reserves from Larnaca, was the subject of a cabinet decision in July 2014, in response to the long-standing demand by the town’s residents. The relocation of strategic oil reserves from the Larnaca seafront to the Vasilikos Energy Centre was completed in August.

The municipality of Larnaca confirmed that it has received the application and expressed its determination to go ahead with the plan as soon as possible.