Foundations for Gecitkoy reservisor are laid

The ground-breaking ceremony for the Gecitkoy reservoir, which is being constructed as part of a project to transport water from Turkey to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), brought together senior officials from the two countries on Friday. Water will be transported to Gecitkoy via an underwater pipeline. On completion, it will be the first water supply delivered by an offshore pipeline in the world. Turkish Cypriot President Dervis Eroglu, Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Irsen Kucuk, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay and Turkish Minister of Environment and Forestry Veysel Eroglu attended the ground-breaking ceremony. The construction of a reservoir at Gecitkoy is the second phase of the "Life Water" project, which will enable the transportation of 75 million cubic meters of water from Turkey to the KKTC annually. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and KKTC Prime Minister Irsen Kucuk attended last year's groundbreaking ceremony for Alakopru Reservoir, the first step in the huge project. A $450 million intergovernmental framework agreement for the Life Water project was signed in July 2010. The first stage in the water transfer project between Turkey and the KKTC is the Alakopru reservoir, which is being constructed on the Dragon River in Anamur and is set to be completed by 2014. The water will be transported to the Gecitkoy reservoir near Girne in the KKTC by an 80-kilometer-long offshore pipeline reaching depths of up to 250 meters below sea level. Two pumping centers and a total of 107 kilometers of pipeline will be involved in transporting water between the two reservoirs.