Energy Minister hopeful that LNG Terminal will be completed this year

Minister of Energy George Papanastasiou has expressed hope that the LNG Terminal, under construction in the Vasilikos area, will be completed before the end of this year.

Speaking to journalists after the Council of Ministers meeting, the Energy Minister said that an additional 120 specialised personnel from China will arrive in Cyprus and that a commitment has been made to President Nikos Christodoulides, who visited the site on Saturday, that the company is moving forward with the completion of the terminal.

Papanastasiou explained that the terminal consists of two parts. The first part is the floating unit which is almost completed, awaiting certification. "This week we will have a confirmation from a classification society that the ship is on course for certification," he said. Regarding the second part, the land terminal, he said that the construction has already started and that since last Saturday, the consortium, with management company being CPP, which is of Chinese interests, has resumed work.

"We hope that through an increase in the staff and the employees that the management company will bring from China and with the help of the state to give the necessary visas, the terminal will be finished hopefully before the end of 2024," he emphasised.

The Minister said that there is a time frame indicated by those funding the project for the terminal to be completed, which is until the end of 2024, but noted that a slight postponement can be given.

He also said that the President of the Republic visited the site on Saturday.

"We visited the area of Vasilikos together with the President of the Republic on Saturday because he wanted to see for himself what is happening there" the Minister said, adding that there has been a commitment before the President of the Republic that the company is moving forward with the completion of the terminal and with the delivery of the vessel in the coming weeks.

The Minister said the European Commission is closely monitoring the project which has taken several extensions, and recalled that the project is mostly European, as it has received European funding with 101 million euro and the banks involved in this project are European ones.

"There is some concern on the part of the financiers of the project but with the latest development which shows that the project is starting to move in the right direction and with the close monitoring by the Ministry itself I believe that we will see the completion of the terminal," he concluded.

(Source: CNA)