The Cypriot Shipping Ministry is laying the groundwork to reconnect a discontinued Cyprus-Greece ferry link by 2020 if possible.
Deputy Shipping Minister Natasa Pilides told MPs on Friday that her Ministry is preparing tender documents for a study to be conducted on possible ways of operating the sea interconnection.
Talking to members of the House Transport Committee, Pilides said that following the cabinet decision to back the project in November, the Ministry has been working on speeding up procedures, with that hope that the line will be reinstated, if not this summer then the following tourist season.
The ministry is preparing the terms and conditions of the tender for the relevant study, which is expected to be ready in the coming days. The successful candidate will have 10 weeks to complete the study.
The survey will review various scenarios regarding the financial viability of the ferry link, the cost of fares in relation to airfares, the connection with the Greek port of Piraeus or with the Greek islands, the prospect of attracting tourist flows to Cyprus and the possibility of financing from European funds.
The study will be presented to the European Union which will be asked to finance the interconnection, in the same way, it has facilitated other interconnections, although never an interstate one.
However, if the EU refuses to finance the ferry link, there is also the option of the state directly subsidizing it. In this case, Pilides said, approval by the European Commission will have to be obtained, as EU regulations do not allow for state financing of private projects.
Pilides referred to earlier studies on the cost of the Greece-Cyprus ferry link saying that the project would need financing of around €5 mln on a yearly basis.
She did, however, note that things may have changed since the last study.
The Ministry of Shipping is in consultations with the Shipping Ministry of Greece and with Greek shipowners, Pilides said there is keen interest in a ferry link between the two countries.
Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios pointed out that the project should be designed to attract tourists who would stay in Cyprus longer than several hours.
Perdios referred to Santorini, saying that the island sees some six million tourists per year arriving on such ferries, but most of them stay on the island for only a few hours.
Parties and stakeholders participating in the House meeting agreed on the need for a Cyprus-Greece ferry link that was last operational in 2000.
The chairman and members of the committee stressed in their statements that a sea interconnection between the two countries is of national importance.
