Cyprus ports will increase in competitiveness after private investment participation, said Transport Minister Marios Demetriades in response to questions from opposition communist party AKEL.

AKEL’s chief Andros Kyprianou sent the minister a letter asking for more information about the privatisation. In the letter he asserts that the costs of running the ports will increase after privatisation…because the revenues will increase to 50 million Euros per year.

But the minister rejected this as the wrong information. The ports already earn 50 million in revenues, and the companies which won the tenders for private participation have a great deal of international experience in ports management, he said. As a result, the minister expects a reduction in the charges for using the ports, he said.

The state will receive 6.30 Euros from every 10 Euros earned, said the minister.

Under the minister’s administration, the ports gained new investment from private companies which are also qualified by experience to manage the ports. The trade unions reacted against this partial privatisation and went on strike, but they were stopped in their tracks by the prospect of losing their jobs if they continued the unreasonable work stoppage, which would have cost the state millions of Euros in lost revenues.

Minister Demetriades made the point that the trade unions had nothing to strike about, given that their jobs were secured for life and that they earn healthy salaries. But they refused to back down, so the minister did something no other minister has done in the history of the Republic - he decided that those who refused to cooperate with this economic policy and perform to high standards would lose their jobs.

That’s when they backed down.

The privatisation of the ports was a condition of the multi-billion Euro bailout brought about by the mismanagement of the economy by AKEL and its leader Demetris Christofias, which control the state employee trade unions. They were used to controlling public funds as well, because in the past, the state’s operations depended on their good graces. Things have changed since the economic crisis caused high unemployment and a much weaker economy.

In the wake of the showdown, 40 ports employees will take early retirement, said the minister.

This would save a considerable amount of money given the lumpsum each public servant is paid upon retirement in addition to a monthly pension.