Cyprus is planning to expand its Evangelos Florakis naval base at Mari to host more than eight large warships and support vessels from allied navies, defence publication Janes reported on Sunday.

The defence ministry has awarded a year-long design study to a consortium of two Athens engineering firms, Triton and Marnet.

Commodore Nicolaos Luca told Janes the aim is enough berths for “allied navies”.

He said use of the base would need the approval of the Cypriot authorities. The study will fix the number of berths as well as the size of vessels that can be handled.

The work centres on the harbour and maritime facilities, as the base’s land area will not grow at this stage, with upgrades to ground facilities planned.

The project is still at the design stage, and the specifications and construction timetable have not been settled.

At present the base can support only the Cypriot navy, which runs a small fleet of patrol and coastal vessels.

Its largest ship, the support vessel Alasia, displaces 900 tonnes and is 62 metres long.

The US-European command is funding a new heliport at Mari able to take large Chinook-type transport helicopters for airlifting evacuees from conflict zones.

The Andreas Papandreou air base in Paphos will also gain new infrastructure for heavy-lift transport aircraft.

President Nikos Christodoulides previously announced a €14.7 million initiative to improve the two bases, and said expanding Mari was tied to a military cooperation deal with EU states such as France.

Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas has estimated that planned upgrades at Mari could cost more than €200 million.

The base is named after Evangelos Florakis, a Greek general and commander of the Greek forces in Cyprus (Eldyk) who died in a helicopter crash near Paphos in 2002.