The ‘Project of the Century’, planned for completion on March 7th 2014, which coincides with the birthday of President Dervis Eroglu, may well be finished earlier than expected.
The water project, including a water transmission pipeline being submerged 250 metres below sea, is the first project of its type anywhere in the world.
Every year, 75 million meters of water will be delivered to the TRNC from Turkey mainland. This will be a timely injection of water into the TRNC where decreasing rainfall has lowered the water table significantly. The supply should meet all projected demand for more than 50 years including irrigation as well as drinking water.
The Alakopru dam near Mersin is now 60 % complete. On the TRNC side, the Gecitkoy dam is 40% complete. All related pumping stations and underground pipelines are also ahead of schedule.
The Century project is being funded by Turkey at an overall cost of TL 1.5 billion.
Half the water will be for drinking and the rest for irrigation. For the latter, there is a 4 stage project to build some 480 kilometers of pipeline in the TRNC.
The cost of this new water for TRNC citizens is guaranteed to be no more than at present and may well cost less.
Electricity will also be transmitted along the same pipeline and here, substantial price reductions are anticipated as the cost of electricity in Turkey is half that of the TRNC.
