Delimara power plant extension in a shambles, says Labour MP

Labour MP Joe Mizzi has tabled photographic evidence in the House to back up his claims that one of the turbines of the power station extension was damaged during reliability test runs held in recent days.

Mizzi tabled the evidence in parliament on Tuesday and in an animated speech, the Labour whip explained that up to eight diesel engines and one turbine suffered "serious damage."

He said some parts of the brand new turbine had broken off during a test run and were carried by steam into the steam turbine. Mizzi added that the damage at the front part of the turbine was confirmed on Monday.

The MP also pointed out that the emissions control mechanism was leaking and this was posing a health risk to the power plant employees as toxic substances such as sulphur were leaking.

"This is a very serious situation. Originally, the reliability test run was scheduled for the end of June, however it had been delayed by three months following some serious technical problems," Mizzi said.

He added that despite the long delay, the damage caused during the test runs means that the "brand new, expensive and polluting extension cannot operate."

Mizzi expressed his concern at the serious shortcomings and asked: "Who will shoulder the responsibility for all this? I hope answers are given as this could have a drastic affect on the whole country, including industry."

The Delimara power plant extension has been immersed in controversy for many years. The award of the €200 million contract to Bwsc was scrutinised by Parliament following accusations of corruption.  

The award of the tender to Danish firm BWSC, had also attracted opposition because the new turbine will be powered by a diesel engine, to be converted in future to a combined cycle gas turbine. 

As Bwsc's representative in Malta, Joe Mizzi reportedly pocketed €4 million in commissions for having clinched the multi-million deal for the Danish firm. The former Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter had also denied having had a conflict of interest during the evaluation of the tender for the Delimara power station extension, because a bidder was also his employer.

The Labour whip called for accountability and asked whether there is some kind of collusion between Bwsc and Maltese officials to hide the existing problems.

Contrary to claims by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, Mizzi said the extension was not going through a full power run, since not all engines were being operated. He added that Bwsc engineers are carrying out maintenance and inspections during the night when Enemalta personnel is not present.

He called for a fully-fledged audit to be carried out by independent experts to verify whether Bwsc was achieving its contractual obligations.

"Before being passed over to Enemalta, the plant should be certified independently and nobody involved in the extension should be involved in the audit," Mizzi said.