Filenews 28 January 2024 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
One unpleasant – for the public interest – reversal follows the other regarding DEFA's tender for the purchase of consulting and other services for the natural gas supply system, which will connect the sea and land infrastructure in Vasilikos with the power stations of EAC, PEC and Paramount.
Following the decision last week of the Tender Review Authority to annul DEFA's new decision to award the offer to the KPMG – Asprofos consortium, which created the conditions for the award of the tender to the Hill – Asprofos consortium, KPMG – Asprofos resorted to the Administrative Court to prevent faits accompli against them and initially succeeded.
Phileleftheros reports that KPMG – Asprofos secured from the Administrative Court a preliminary prohibition order, which prevents DEFA from making another decision on the tender and in particular prevents it from awarding the study to Hill – Asprofos.
Last Friday, the first hearing in the case took place before the Administrative Court. Although there is no official update on the progress of the proceedings, Phileleftheros information indicates that the court will continue examining the appeal and set March 14, 2024 as the date for hearing or starting the trial.
Most likely, this means that the issuance of a prohibition order against DEFA has been formalized and will remain in force until at least 14/3 and additional time may be required to examine the merits of the appeal, namely the request of the KPMG-Asprofos consortium to annul the decision of the Tender Review Authority to cancel its undertaking of the project.
The adjudication of the case by the Administrative Court entails a loss of significant additional time, which is difficult to estimate at this stage. This development may lead or eventually oblige DEFA to a decision to cancel the tender altogether, which means that it will have to re-announce it, so the delay will be even longer.
Everything goes back
Under these circumstances, the realization of the very important study and the concession of consulting services for the natural gas transmission system is postponed to an unknown future point. De facto, the preparation of tender terms for the construction works of the piping infrastructure for the transmission of natural gas to power stations is also postponed. The very use of natural gas for electricity generation will therefore be delayed.
As Phileleftheros has written a few times, the use of natural gas by EAC is impossible to start in 2024 and probably impossible to be feasible in 2025!
In addition to the serious delays for the necessary transmission pipeline infrastructure, delays continue regarding the delivery of the pier to which the Prometheus floating regasification unit will dock. After several postponements, China's CPP had promised to deliver the infrastructure in July 2024, but DEFA and its subsidiary ETYFA believe this is not feasible either. ETYFA's board of directors decided to send a strict letter to the Chinese company, requesting the establishment of a new delivery schedule for the project, with the undertaking of relevant guarantees by the contractor.
The delivery of the floating unit (FSRU) Prometheus to ETYFA remains pending, as the Republic of Cyprus requires the ship to be certified by an international rating agency.
