Greece and a wary Cyprus to discuss electric cable project

The governments of Greece and Cyprus will meet on September 10 in a last-ditch attempt to salvage a multi-billion euro electric cable project, which if completed, would be the world’s longest linking Europe to the Middle East.

The Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) seeks to link the transmission networks of Greece via Crete to Cyprus and eventually Israel in a project costing 2.4 billion euros.

On completion, it will be the longest, at 1,240 km, and deepest, at 3,000 metres, high voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnector in the world.

Tuesday’s meeting will attempt to clarify any lingering concerns in Nicosia about the total cost of the project, its viability and what Cyprus would pay towards it, government officials said.

It comes against a backdrop of warnings contractors could reconsider their participation unless Cyprus takes a decision soon, and also pressure from Greece.

“As a responsible government, we will take a decision which won’t place undue financial burden either on the state, or on people,” Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters.

The European Union has classified the GSI a “Project of Common Interest”, and one it is willing to partly finance with 657 million euros.

Greece’s energy minister as well as Greece’s power grid operator IPTO, the project manager, will be present at Tuesday’s meeting along with a representative of the European Commission.

Cyprus has approached big projects with caution since the collapse this year of an attempt to introduce natural gas, as well as scrapping a large port development contract. Both were clinched under a previous right-wing administration.

“Our decision will be based on real data, without any constructive, or non-constructive ambiguity,” Christodoulides said. [Reuters]