Insight CYPRUS
group. It relies on special events to attract its clientele and add to its appeal. The most recent of these was an international poker tournament. With prizes totalling a million euros, the tournament reportedly drew more than 300 international professional and amateur players to the tables.
Both Kaya Artemis and Noah’s Ark are heavily dependent on their casino operations for their income. However, the casinos are struggling to compete with similar establishments currently flourishing in Kyrenia. Bafra supporters believe that authorities must stop granting licences to operators outside of the tourism project area in order to boost its chances.
Help also needs to be given to the local agricultural community. At present the local industry fails to even supply the existing hotels with their needs. Farming in the region is almost dead because most of the villages lack sufficient water to sustain it.
Further planned investments are on the drawing board for construction in the immediate
vicinity of Noah’s Ark and Kaya Artemis.
Officials claim the hotels should not have any water problems because an Israeli-owned desalination plant sited close by produces around 2000 cubic metres of water a day. However, during the summer holiday season, the hotels take priority over the water supply and the local agriculture suffers.
Despite the contradictions and the history of stop-go development, some further planned investments are on the drawing board for construction in the immediate vicinity of Noah’s Ark and Kaya Artemis.
There’s the unfinished Babylon project that aims to recreate the legendary Hanging Gardens of
Babylon, while another pays tribute to Rome’s famous Colosseum. Yet another project is described by its architects as ’a highly abstract version of Roman Villa Hadriana in Tivoli.’
There remains optimism that the Turkish Cypriot authorities are trying to turn things around for Vokolida (Bafra). It’s the reason why they’ve gone back to the drawing board, putting more thought into planning the region’s infrastructure. The area needs more social facilities, restaurants, bars, dormitories for workers, more social activities - and the authorities have promised to ‘develop clusters of those for the entire area.’
If more hotels do open and the golf course starts operating, the whole area could pick up very quickly. There is a lot of private investment in the land around the Bafra project, with many foreign investors, Israel, United Kingdom, Iran, Lebanon, and the Scandinavian countries having bought plots. They have all been waiting for the infrastructure to be put in place before committing to their own projects in the area.
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