Energy Minister Yiorgos Papanastasiou said on Thursday (8 August) that the Cypriot government intends to respond in writing to Brussels in the first week of September to its demand for the repayment of €69 million in grants for the construction of the Vasiliko LNG terminal.
Papanastasiou said that not only the money already paid to Cyprus was at stake, but also the remaining amount of €32 million. The EU was supposed to transfer a total of €101 million for the implementation of the project.
Commenting on the situation regarding the cancellation of the contract with the Chinese consortium, the minister said that Etyfa (the owner of the project) is currently carrying out an inventory of materials at the Vasiliko jetty and on the Prometheus regasification vessel. He also mentioned that the Ministry of Energy had received legal advice that Etyfa should not continue to use the services of subcontractors who had previously worked for the Chinese-led consortium.
Instead, tenders should be accelerated to find new subcontractors from scratch to complete the remaining construction work on the onshore facilities at Wasiliko. As for the Prometheus vessel, which is still stranded in Shanghai, Papanastasiou said Etyfa was continuing its efforts to take physical possession of it.
Negotiations are underway between the two parties, Etyfa and the Chinese consortium," Papanastasiou said.
At the same time, the energy minister stressed that the Cypriot government is committed to the completion of the project.
It should be recalled that following the cancellation of the Chinese consortium's contract, the European Commission demanded that Cyprus repay almost €69 million in grants paid for the construction of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Vasiliko.