GSI: Christodoulides says the 25 million euro payment to ADMIE is proceeding “according to plan”

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said on Monday, 2 November, in Nicosia that the government has taken all the steps within its responsibility for the seabed surveys of the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI), the power cable between Crete and Cyprus, to begin. His remarks, made ahead of the annual general meeting of the Association of Large Investments of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, were reported by Cyprus Mail, Politis and Cyprus Inform.

What he said. Asked about the NAVTEX navigational notice needed for the surveys, Christodoulides replied that “the less we say publicly, the better”, citing an informal understanding with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and French President Emmanuel Macron. He did not say when the notice might be issued. On the 25 million euro payment to ADMIE, Greece’s power transmission operator, he said everything is proceeding according to plan, that the government honours its commitments and that the necessary steps are being taken away from the public eye.

The figures. According to Polis Lemonaris, head of the regulator CERA, quoted by Cyprus Mail on 20 October, 60% of the seabed surveys are complete and the remaining 40% would take about six months. Of the 900 km of cable between Crete and Cyprus, 280 km has already been laid on the seabed and another 232 km has been manufactured. Cyprus pays 25 million euros a year in 2025–2029, but at that point the first instalment had not been paid. Completion is now estimated for January 2031, a year after the original target, and the final cost remains unknown.

Context. In September, Christodoulides had tied the first instalment to Greece issuing the NAVTEX for resuming the surveys, and Cypriot Energy Minister Michael Damianos had said the Greek authorities would issue it by the end of October. France’s Meridiam has acquired 66% of the project’s Greek holding company, while ADMIE has kept 33%, according to CERA.

The pipeline. In the same remarks, Christodoulides described as illegal a planned gas pipeline between Turkey and the north of the island and said the European Union has already set out its position and taken steps towards Ankara.

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