Energy Minister Michael Damianos on Monday stressed the Cyprus government putting money forward for the construction of the Great Sea Interconnector is conditional on there being progress made in its construction, saying that “if electricity does not come to Cyprus, we will not pay”.

He confirmed after presenting his ministry’s budget for next year to the House finance committee that Greece’s independent power transmission system operator (Admie) has claimed that its expenses on the project have risen to €302 million.

This figure is up from the €250m his predecessor George Papanastasiou had confirmed in August last year.

However, Damianos said, the proportion of those expenses verified by the Cyprus energy regulatory authority (Cera) stands at €82m, the same figure announced almost 15 months ago.

In effect, the Cypriot authority has refused to verify that any money has been spent on the interconnector project since August last year, despite Admie having reported that it spent €52m in that time.

He also made reference to the €25m the Cyprus government had pledged to pay Admie each year from 2025 until 2029, to ensure the financial viability of Admie, which was at the time of the agreement the project’s outright owner, before it sold a majority stake to French asset management firm Meridiam.

On this front, he said that the first payment, due in 2025, was “postponed” as “no work progressed during that year”.

“The commitment concerns a project which is progressing and not a project which remains pending,” he said.

Cypriot billpayers will repay interconnector cost over 30 years

He also stressed that Cypriot consumers will only begin paying for the project following its completion and when Cyprus is receiving energy via the interconnector cable from Greece, adding that “the share attributable to Cypriot consumers is planned to be repaid over a period of 30 years”.

Regarding the possibility of the cost of constructing the interconnector increasing, he said that “additional resources should be sought, possibly from investors, funds, or through financing from the European Investment Bank”.

He later described the interconnector project, which, if completed, will link the energy grids of Cyprus, Greece and Israel, as “important both for electricity adequacy and for geopolitical reasons”, though he did acknowledge the “risks” associated with its construction.

On this front, he said that he believes that “Turkey will react” to the construction of the cable between Cyprus and Crete, given that a part of the planned route passes through waters which Turkey claims as its own.

He said that “the Republic of Cyprus does not have the equipment to protect ships operating in its exclusive economic zone”, but that “Greece, the French government, and French interests associated with the project have a role in the issue”.

“Nicosia is fully informed by Athens about developments,” he said, before adding that “if the project progresses”, it is believed that it will be fully completed by 2031.

Greece promises project will go ahead

His comments come after Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis had on Friday insisted that the interconnector project will go ahead, saying that “the project will proceed based on the initial planning and any action which is contrary to international law will not hinder or change the initial planning of the project”.

Those remarks relate to the dispute between Greece and Turkey over who owns the seas between Cyprus and Crete, with Greece and Cyprus, citing the United Nations convention on the law of the sea (Unclos), stating that they do, while Turkey, which is not a signatory to Unclos, stating that they do not.

As such, according to Turkey’s position, beyond the 12 nautical miles of territorial waters to which Turkey believes both islands are entitled, the sea between Cyprus and Crete is Turkish.

By contrast, the position held by Greece and by the Republic of Cyprus is that, given that islands generate a full EEZ, the EEZs of Greece and Cyprus border one another south of Kastellorizo, Greece’s easternmost inhabited island.

Neither Greece, nor Turkey confirms reported interconnector compromise

It had been reported that so as to circumvent this dispute, the Greek and French governments, given France’s involvement through Meridiam and cable manufacturer Nexans, planned to “notify” Turkey of their intentions prior to issuing a navtex, a message used to transmit information to seaborne vessels, regarding planned seabed surveys for the laying of cables.

However, these reports are yet to be verified, and despite the Cyprus Mail making persistent and repeated attempts to reach both the Greek and Turkish governments on the matter, both have failed to provide a response.

Nonetheless, Damianos had said on Thursday last week that the navtex for the seabed surveys will be issued before the end of this month, with the Greek coastguard having said that French-flagged research ship the Abeille Marengo will be the ship conducting the surveys.