The expected cost of turbines to be purchased for the old Dhekelia power plant has skyrocketed, one MP claimed on Tuesday.

The remarks were made by Kyriacos Hadjiyianni (Disy) after a joint session of the House energy and audit committees.

Held behind closed doors, the session convened to discuss an ongoing tender for the purchase of two new turbines for the Dhekelia power station.

The two turbines will run on diesel. They are not configured to also run on natural gas.

The session itself was kept off bounds for the media given the sensitive nature of the matter – the Electricity Authority of Cyprus is now negotiating with two remaining bidders (out of five initially) and did not want to jeopardise the process.

But later, Disy’s Hadjiyianni alleged that the cost for the turbines has “multiplied”.

He added: “We started with an X amount, and today we’re at ten to twenty times the initial amount, it’s unacceptable.”

The MP censured the state for purchasing turbines running on mazut and diesel, instead of investing in ‘clean energy’.

He also lashed out at the government for the stalled liquefied natural gas (LNG) project at Vasiliko.

Hadjiyianni urged authorities to keep a close eye on the procedures followed by the EAC to make sure that the final cost of the Dhekelia turbines does not spin out of control.

However, speaking to persons familiar with the matter, the Cyprus Mail was told that the picture relayed by Hadjiyianni was grossly inaccurate.

Claims to the effect that the prices quoted by the bidders are orders of magnitude higher than the amount initially budgeted are “nonsense”, one source said.

The same source said the initial amount budgeted for the two turbines came to €69 million.

Another source said €64 million. They did confirm that the offers submitted by the two bidders are higher than that, but did not say by how much.

For its part, EAC officials told parliamentarians that the tender is currently at an “advanced stage”.

A decision awarding the contract would be taken in “a matter of weeks,” they told MPs.

The two turbines would be used to boost capacity at the outdated Dhekelia plant, complementing the current turbines that are approximately 40 years old.

The European Commission had initially demanded that Cyprus shutter the power station given that it does not meet the EU’s emissions targets. But the Cyprus government promised to modernise it to mitigate emissions.