The Cyprus government signed Friday a multi-million-euro deal with Hermes Consortium Airports to develop and run two airports on the island.

The build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects for the Larnaca and Paphos airports were signed by Minister of Communications and Works Haris Thrasou and Nicos Shacolas, on behalf of the Cyprus Trading Corporation Ltd under Hermes Consortium Airports.

The two airports will be run for a period of 25 years before the transfer.

Speaking after the signing ceremony, Thrasou said the agreement is considered "the biggest construction contract ever signed by the Cyprus Republic."

It provides for the construction of two airports at a total cost of around 500 million euros (about 600 million US dollars) and their management with a total income for the republic of 2 billion euros (about 2.4 billion dollars), he said.

The new Larnaca Airport will be ready in around 4 years and construction at Paphos will take three years.

According to Thrasou, the first phase of the new Larnaca Airport will serve 7.5 million passengers yearly and the investor is obliged to follow with the second phase of the expansion to serve 9 million passengers yearly, whereas the new Paphos Airport will be able to serve 2.7 million customers yearly.

Source: Xinhua