Filenews 18 January 2026 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
IPTO, the implementing body of the Cyprus-Greece electrical interconnection, is trying at every opportunity to present the Cypriot side and the regulatory authorities as responsible for the long delay in the promotion of the project, but reliable information from Fileleftheros states that the French Nexans, contractor of the project for the construction and laying of the cable, considers IPTO itself fully responsible and accountable for the violation of the basic terms of the contract, including timelines for critical stages of interconnection.
Fileleftheros is informed, in fact, that Nexans has warned IPTO in writing (after the Mitsotakis-Christodoulidis agreement to update the project data) that if within the first quarter of 2026 it does not grant it the final notice for the official and full start of the entire project (the Full Notice to Proceed, which it should have done from August 2024), then no timetable included in the contract will bind it, just as the clauses in the contract for compensation of IPTO in case of delay in the completion of the interconnection will not bind it.
And not only that: Nexans informed IPTO in writing that at this stage of the project, with the delays that preceded it and the termination by IPTO of the payments for the cable from April 2025,the compensation that the Greek organization will be required to pay to the French company in the event of an early termination of the project by IPTO increased to approximately €250 million!
We understand that the amount of this compensation does not include other amounts owed by the implementing agency from past delays or amounts that Nexans may claim in the event of a permanent shipwreck of the project without its own responsibility, mainly regarding issues of orders for raw materials or rejection of contracts for the construction of other electrical cables.
From the information available to Fileleftheros, it can be concluded that Nexans has already built a cable, of various specifications and technical requirements, with a total length of about 300 kilometers, utilizing its factories in Japan and Norway.
Although IPTO's concession of Full Notice to Proceed is extremely critical for the French company, it accepted over time to give some extensions, the last of which expired in December 2025.
As IPTO is not ready or willing to grant the Full Notice to Proceed, Nexans has sent an ultimatum to IPTO, which expires at the end of March 2026. If the specific notification for a final and binding order is not given by then, then everything is likely to blow up, as the French will consider that they are released from any obligation towards the implementing agency and are likely to activate their compensation clauses.
In such a case, however, IPTO will in turn activate the procedures for claiming compensation from the regulatory authorities of Cyprus and Greece and by extension from the two governments and electricity consumers, arguing that the responsibility for the huge fiasco is not its own.
IPTO says it has so far paid about €300 million to Nexans, which the French company considers non-refundable. If in these €300 million add the €250 that Nexans confirms as compensation it is entitled to for a possible early termination of the contract by IPTO, then the cost of the implementing body for this adventure in which it entered in the summer of 2023 skyrockets to €550 million. Without taking into account any other claims of Nexans.
We remind you that on January 6, 2026, Nexans acknowledged in a statement the problems and delays and informed that "a rescheduling of activities with its client is underway" and that "the changes will affect the delivery date of the project", which was set for the end of 2029. If the pending issues are not resolved by IPTO by March, Nexans does not commit to the time when it will be able to deliver the project, in case it continues.
Following the new developments, Nexans' position is that if IPTO finally submits the Full Notice to Proceed within the first quarter of 2026, the delay in the delivery of the project will be limited to one year. Provided, of course, that the project will not be hindered again by Turkish warships off the coast of Kasos or elsewhere in the international waters between Crete and Cyprus.
