The Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) is both technically and financially viable and must go ahead, former finance minister and Disy MP Harris Georgiades said on Monday.

He was speaking as a meeting took place at the Presidential Palace to discuss the project, ahead of Tuesday’s wide-reaching meeting on the matter, after which a final decision is expected.

Speaking on CyBC radio, Georgiades strongly defended the GSI’s viability, both technical and financial, and its evident necessity, charging that those who had raised questions “may want the island to remain isolated from the rest of Europe.”

Georgiades sought to drive home the point that all European member states, even island states, are interconnected electrically with the sole exception of Cyprus.

According to the MP, the project’s benefit is essentially a no-brainer and it should progress as soon as the last, admittedly significant, details are hammered out. It is unthinkable to derail a project for which construction has already started, and which had already been assessed and approved by the EU, he said.

“We cannot blow up this historic opportunity and remain isolated,” he added. “Other states at the heart of Europe feel they need to be connected for energy security, yet we, with our geopolitically [precarious] situation think it unnecessary?”

Georgiades also rubbished fears that the project was technically challenging due to its length and the depth of the waters in which the subsea cable is to be laid, which has troubled some experts.

“They are advancing a subsea cable from Singapore to Australia,” he said, proof that the technology exists and is at an advanced stage.

Moreover, the island’s energy demands are set to rise sharply by 2030 through a combination of the introduction of electric cars, weaning off fossil fuels for heating, and burgeoning technical sector [which requires large-scale data centres], he said.

The former finance minister also argued that the stakeholders in the partnership – Greece and the EU – would not have committed to their financial obligations had the project not been thoroughly vetted.

Much has been made over the issue of geopolitical risk, he said, but in the event of Turkish aggression, Greek consumers would also be liable for almost 40 per cent (37 per cent) of the fallout. And the EU would never have earmarked €657 million in subsidies for a project which was unfeasible or unworthy of the well-assessed geopolitical risk.

As for the project perhaps not bringing down electricity prices or, conversely, becoming a monopoly precisely due to its flooding the island with low-cost energy, Georgiades held that such fears were illogical and baseless.

“The regulatory agency (Cera) will be in a position to regulate and apportion the energy imported through the GSI,” he said, and set a cap, if needed.

Additionally, “we know the average price of electricity in the EU as a whole is half that of Cyprus, and Cypriot consumers would be falling within that range” once the project goes into operation, he added.

As for concerns over the project’s costs ballooning over time, Georgiades conceded that “no one can predict” the final cost increase.

But the €2 billion currently estimated, would be the “absolute max” that would need to be paid out by the state or the consumer.

The island’s electricity authority (EAC) pays €2.5 billion per annum to “burn imported fossil fuel,” he pointed out.

“What the consumer will [directly or indirectly] have to pay, is not the €2 billion but that minus the EU subsidy, minus the 63 per cent to be paid by Greek consumers – and that remainder would be spread out over 35 years,” he said.

The project will be both viable and profitable, Georgiades confidently concluded. The Cypriot consumer would be burdened with a “cost of €30 per year, while saving €150.

The argument put forward by concerned parties, that the GSI would be “overly profitable” for some, and yet not benefit consumers, did not stand up to logical reason, the former minister said.

As for investing in the island’s storage capacity, the one option did not exclude the other he said.

Addressing the outstanding cost-benefit analyses to be conducted by external experts, as well one commissioned from the Cyprus Institute, which are being awaited, Georgiades said: “We can do as many studies as we like, if it makes us feel better, and then get on with it. Studies which cost tens of thousands of euros have already been done.”

The meeting underway on Monday was led by President Nikos Christodoulides in the presence of the legal service, ministers and relevant state authorities and services.

It was held to coordinate all the involved agencies ahead of Tuesday’s planned meeting with stakeholders, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.

This will include the ministers of energy and finance, the deputy minister to the president, as well as the Greek energy minister, a representative of the European commission, representatives of the project promoter Admie, Norwegian cable company Nexans, and the legal service.