EA Interconnector measures to offset community disruptions in place

EuroAsia Interconnector has decided on compensatory measures to offset disruptions to communities affected by the project.

Among other works, an event hall will be created in Kofinou, a cafeteria in Alaminos, and an existing multi-purpose hall in Agios Theodoros is to be renovated.

A state-owned plot has been selected in the community of Agios Theodoros for the landing of the subsea cables, from where they will be connected with the step-down substation in Kofinou.

According to daily, Philenews, Larnaca MP Christos Orphanides requested an update regarding planned reconstruction of the main road in Alaminos, which is necessary to run underground cables through the community.

In response, Interior Minister Konstantinos Ioannou stated that a notice of expropriation had been published in the Republic’s official gazette on March 3.

With regard to the laying of the cables, the minister stated that EuroAsia Interconnector had applied to the planning department, to secure approval by the council of ministers for leasing the plot in Agios Theodoros.

After an environmental evaluation, the plot in question had been deemed a more suitable place to seal the submarine cables than the initially proposed location in a fishing shelter in Alaminos, since it abuts a public road.

The council of ministers has already approved the leasing of the specific state parcel on February 8, and the director of the EuroAsia lnterconnector project has been informed, Ioannou said.

The execution of the ambitious project to connect the electricity grids of Cyprus, Greece and Israel, is anticipated to bring huge benefits by ending the island’s energy isolation.

The project costs exceed €1.5 billion of which €657 million is financed via the EU’s Uniting Europe programme. It is the largest project financed by the EU in Cyprus to date.