The European Union has reserved 657 million euros ($736 million) for the construction of a 2,000-megawatt undersea electricity cable that will link the power grids of Israel, Cyprus and Greece, Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides said Thursday.
Pilides told reporters the funding is Cyprus’s largest-ever investment and the lion’s share of the total sum that the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, which bankrolls infrastructure projects, has allocated to a single project this year.
Pilides said the money allows crews to start constructing the cable segment that will connect Cyprus with the Greek island of Crete, whose total cost is estimated at roughly 1. In6 billion euros ($1.8 billion). Negotiations to transfer the funds are expected to be finalized this summer.
