Small and medium sized businesses must be supported
AKEL GS tours the municipality of Larnaca
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 4th June 2020, Nicosia
The General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou toured Larnaca today. He visited the Municipal Market under construction and subsequently the Shopping Centre of Larnaca on Zenonos Kitieos Street. The General Secretary of AKEL was accompanied by the Mayor of Larnaca Andreas Vyras, Chrystalla Antoniou AKEL Larnaca District Secretary, Kyriakos Ambizas President of POVEK Larnaca-Famagusta and the AKEL Member of European Parliament Giorgos Georgiou, AKEL MP’s Andreas Pasiourtides and Evanthia Savva, and Athos Kazantzis, leader of the AKEL Municipal Group.
In statements made at the end of his visit to the shopping centre of Larnaca, the General Secretary of AKEL expressed his great satisfaction because the Municipality of Larnaca is gradually beginning to take the road of development it deserves. “20 million Euro projects are underway, from what I have heard. At the moment they are in progress and that says a lot. The Municipal Market, the restoration of ancient buildings that essentially reflect the city’s history, something that is extremely important. I want to congratulate the Mayor and the Municipal Council for the work they are doing. I hope and wish that the support they will have from the state will be such that it will permit them to continue unhindered the planning they have elaborated”, he said.
Andros Kyprianou said that he wants to believe that the development with the port and the marina will be done in the correct way, with the right specifications so that this ongoing development will first and foremost benefit the city and the people of Larnaca.
Regarding his visit to shopkeepers on Zenonos Kitieos Street, the General Secretary of AKEL stated: “Shopkeepers have always faced problems. Today their problems have greatly increased. I will repeat what we have been saying lately as AKEL. Shopkeepers do not need loans from banks. Small and medium-sized businesses are already over-indebted. What they need is support from the state. So the state should be much more generous as to the support it should provide to SME’s, to shopkeepers so that they can confront the current difficult period”.
The General Secretary of AKEL also referred to one of the biggest problems affecting shopkeepers at the moment, namely the issue of rent. “We have passed a law in Parliament which in AKEL’s opinion is inadequate. The government needs to rethink the issue of rent and ensure that there will be a contribution from the state, the owners and shopkeepers, and of course of the tenants so that this difficult period can be overcome”, he said.
“Another big issue for them is shopping hours on Sunday that only serves the big supermarkets, destroying small family businesses. And I regret to say that it is obvious that the government attaches more importance to some big businessmen, very few in number, instead of being interested in the thousands of people we all say constitute the backbone of the Cypriot economy”, said the General Secretary of AKEL. He stressed that the government needs to look at the issues related to rent and work on Sundays with a different outlook “so that help is given to SME’s to overcome the many difficulties that have accumulated due to the pandemic crisis.”
The General Secretary of AKEL continued his tour with a visit to the Technical School of Agios Lazaros. He also had meetings with the Department of Cleanliness of the Municipality of Larnaca and with the Association of Leisure Centres of the Finikoudes coastal front.
