Some 7,525 jobs will be created by the “Project of the Century” to pipe fresh water from Turkey to the TRNC, Turkish Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu has said.
Mr Eroğlu said the 75 million cubic metres-a-year water supply, intended to augment drinking water reserves and boost farming by reviving arid countryside, would also bring in million annual revenue of 80 million TL. Speaking to Turkey’s Akşam newspaper, he said the plan was to treat the water in the TRNC before sending it around the country in a new distribution network and using it to irrigate the Güzelyurt and Mesaoria plains.
The 1.6 billion TL, 80km undersea pipeline – the realisation of a long-held political ambition to turn drought-hit Cyprus once more into a “green island” was formally launched last month, with the taps turned on to bring water from southern Turkey’s Alaköprü dam to Güzelyalı and then on to the Geçitköy reservoir.
More than four years in the making, the scheme piloted to reality by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, both as Turkey’s prime minister and now president, who was guest of honour for opening ceremonies at both ends of the pipeline.
Mr Eroğlu said he had shared the vision of the scheme with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan when the latter was mayor of Istanbul and “when the time was ripe the project had been realised”.
