A fuel station for every 4sq.km

There are 76 fuel stations in Malta to quench the thirst of thousands of vehicles that make use of the roads, information tabled in parliament shows. 

With Malta and Gozo’s surface area being 316sq.km, this equates to a fuel station every 4sq.km. Figures from the National Statistics Office show there were 445,711 vehicles registered by the end of last year. If 13,081 electric vehicles are removed from the total, this would result in an average of 5,693 petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles per fuel station in Malta and Gozo. 

Of the 76 fuel stations, 56 have an active licence, while 20 are in the process of having their licence renewed following refurbishment works. 

The information was tabled in parliament by Energy Minister Miriam Dalli in reply to a parliamentary question by Opposition MP Jerome Caruana Cilia.  

Dalli said that of the 56 with an active licence, 49 had carried out the necessary renovations, one is about to start these works shortly, three were granted clearance by the Energy and Water Agency (REWS), and three others are still in the process of submitting their plans. 

The minister also said that only 34 of the 76 fuel stations have an environmental permit from the Environment and Resources Authority. The rest have pending applications, while only one fuel station has not yet submitted an application. 

Meanwhile, Dalli said that until 24 March this year, ERA had received no new application for a petrol pump. However, REWS has before it one pending application for a new fuel station.