Filenews 7 November 2025 - by Vassos Vassiliou
Apart from the possible pre-arrangements between contractors, in order to share the cake of the millions of public projects, which in the period 2015-2024 amounted to €2.5 billion, there is a more tangible explanation for the fact that a small number of companies take over the lion's share of the contracts.
This concerns the penetration of contractors in raw materials (quarries, etc.), which helps them to beat bids by displacing their competitors.
Specifically, speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Interior before the parliamentary audit committee, during which the assignment of public construction projects to contractors was examined, Ms. Maria Tourapi, also mentioned the following interesting version: "Cyprus is a small market.
The companies are specific and some have acquired the know-how and meet all the criteria to take part in the tenders. In addition, some of them, in addition to their contracting activity, also own other groups of companies that are intertwined with materials, raw materials, etc., so this helps them bid lower and we see the current picture."
The Head of Technical Services of the Audit Office, Mrs. Stalo Aristidou, informing the MPs about the findings of the report, also stated the following:
>> In the period 2015-2024 Cyfield undertook 157 projects worth €563,955.27, Iakovou Brothers undertook 84 projects worth €321,977,123 while Cybarco Ltd undertook 40 projects worth €140,976,255.
>> These companies undertook 40.8% of the public works of the above period, during which 2,164 contracts worth €2.5 billion were awarded.
Regarding the pace of implementation of the projects, he said that the average contract for each project is 601 days, while the average delay in the implementation of the projects is 461 days.
He also said that in 14.2% of the bids, only one bid had been submitted, which, in the end, was awarded to the one who submitted it.
The report referred to an oligopoly and a dominant position of the Cyfield group, stating that "a significant percentage of the total contract value was concentrated in a limited number of contractors".
Regarding whether the Cyfield company has a dominant position in the market, the president of the Hellenic Competition Protection Commission (EPA) stated that she does not consider that the 22% share in the implementation of public projects refers to a dominant position.
It is noted that the discussion did not reveal any evidence of pre-arrangements between companies, but the committee asked the Auditor General to consider this possibility.
The committee was also concerned with the fact that while contractors repeatedly undertook projects that they could not implement, they are also assigned new projects.
The Accountant General of the Republic, Mr. Andreas Antoniadis, stated that provisions were included in the Register of Public Contracts, which help to exclude contractors who do not meet their obligations.
Regarding the company that presented the problems, Mr. Antoniadis stated that it had been included in the exclusion register in the period 2021-2013, but it came back and could come back because the exclusion was two years.
He also said that when an tender is announced and it is found that any economic operator has a contract to its credit, which it has not performed adequately, then the contracting authorities must exclude it from the process of participating in the tender. "This has been in place since August 2025," he said.
