Limassol port and Nicosia perimeter motorway among 134 EU transport projects sharing €7b support

€1.2 million in support for the development and energy sustainability of the port of Limassol, and €10.5 million towards the construction of the Nicosia perimeter motorway, are included in the €7 billion set aside for 134 transport projects all over the European Union within the framework of the Connecting Europe Facility – CEF.

Europe-wide, 80% of the €7 billion is for rail projects, while more broadly 83% of the funding is for projects linked to the EU's climate goals, through the modernisation of railways, inland waterways and maritime routes along the trans-European transport network, TEN-T.

As also announced, the revised regulation for the development of the network comes into force on 18 July.

After the list of 134 projects has been approved by the Member States, the Commission will formally issue the funding decision. The results are provisional and will become final only when the Commission issues the corresponding awarding decision.

The first project approved in Cyprus concerns the carrying out of studies for the construction of land-based electricity supply for the port of Limassol, for which funding of €1,169,813 euros proposed with the Cyprus Ports Authority as the recipient.

According to the funding rationale, the main benefit of the project will be to enhance the port's sustainability as it will offer more electricity for ships, thereby reducing air pollution.

The second project concerns the construction of phase C1 of the Nicosia perimeter motorway, for which funding of €10,463,609 is proposed with the Ministry of Transport as recipient. The rationale for the project concerns the strengthening of road safety in a critical part of the trans-European network.

Mainly rail connections in the EU

At pan-European level, funding concerns major projects to improve cross-border rail connections along the TEN-T core network in the Baltic Member States (Rail Baltica), between France and Italy (Lyon-Turin) and between Denmark and Germany (Fehmarnbelt Tunnel).

Also, the funds will be directed to 20 seaports, in addition to Cyprus and more specifically to Ireland, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Malta, Lithuania, Croatia, Greece and Poland. The support is for infrastructure upgrades, some of which will enable ships to be supplied with electricity from land or to transport renewable energy. The financed projects also include improvements to inland navigation infrastructures, i.e. ports on rivers.

In terms of road transport, the creation of collaborative intelligent transport systems and services (ITS) and the creation of new, safe and protected parking spaces for private and professional drivers are underway. The funds also include air traffic management projects within the framework of the Single European Sky policy.

Finally, various projects will allow for increasing capacity along the EU-Ukraine solidarity lanes, which were created to facilitate imports and exports after the Russian invasion of the country.

The 134 projects were selected from a total of 408 applications submitted under the call for proposals that ended on 18 January 2024. EU funding will take the form of grants, which will be used to co-finance the total cost of the project.

(Source: InBusinessNews)