Cyprus’ Natural Gas Infrastructure Company (ETYFA) has ultimately decided not to go ahead with the completion of the terminal pier in Vasiliko through direct assignment with the VPSM consortium, discontinuing the months-long negotiations between the two sides.
This is a development that changes the time horizon for the completion of an extremely important part of the island's energy infrastructure, namely the terminal, since in fact, with the new process that will be followed to find a new contractor, the goal of bringing natural gas to our country as soon as possible is being postponed even longer.
It is recalled that since last December, the ‘Prometheus’ floating unit has been formally owned by the Republic of Cyprus, but cannot yet come to Cyprus, on the one hand because it has not yet been certified as an FSRU, but also because - even if it receives the relevant certification in the coming months - there will not be the necessary infrastructure in Vasiliko for it to be able to dock and anchor there.
It is worth noting that one of the main reasons why, in the past, the direct assignment to VPSM was considered the most ideal option for completing the pier was precisely to "save time”, since:
First: Through direct award, the delay inherent in announcing a new tender and awarding the bid would be avoided.
Second: This particular consortium, acting as a subcontractor of CPP-Metron Consortium Ltd (CMC) on this specific parametre of the project, emerged as a sure solution, since it has proven to have the required know-how and experience to complete the pier without any setbacks.
A question that arises in this regard is, among other things, why were all these months allowed to pass and valuable time to be lost, if the intention of ETYFA and the competent Ministry was, at the end of the day, to proceed with a new tender for the pier as well.
Ashikalis: That's why we ended the negotiations
Speaking to InBusinessNews, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ETYFA, George Ashikalis, provided an answer on this matter, stating that the decision was made after studying a report prepared by the negotiating team that had been established, while taking into account the opinion of the project manager, Technip, which - as Ashikalis emphasised - has significant experience in such unfinished projects.
"After hearing their views, as well as those of our legal advisors, the Board of Directors decided to terminate the negotiations, as the outcome of the negotiations does not meet the conditions for which this specific negotiation process was initially chosen," the Chairman of ETYFA noted.
Asked specifically about the reasons why the suspension of negotiations was deemed the appropriate choice, Ashikalis argued that the consortium did not want to take responsibility, neither for the design, which was done by others (CMC), nor for the materials that were purchased by others (CMC) and supplied to them.
"This was one of the important issues that led us to the decision we made to terminate the negotiation with VPSM," he indicated.
"When we decided to move forward with negotiations with VPMS," continued the Chairman of ETYFA, "We had said that we were moving forward with them because they could do the job and take responsibility. From the moment responsibility is not being taken, we cannot move forward and conclude with the signing of a contract," he pointed out.
The next steps
Asked about the next steps, Ashikalis said that the Board of Directors will meet again next Monday to consider its options, in order to make it possible to complete the project through a competitive process.
"In other words, we will proceed with a tender," he explained, noting that "essentially at Monday's session we will see further details on how we proceed with the tender now."
Asked whether ETYFA is considering the possibility of announcing a single tender, both for the completion of the projects on the pier and for the land infrastructure, Ashikalis answered in the affirmative, emphasizing that such a possibility is not ruled out.
"This is a good scenario, because it kills two birds with one stone," he said.
(Source: InBusinessNews)
