PM slams Opposition for using scaremongering tactics on LNG tanker

The Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning reiterated government’s stance that thorough and extensive research had been carried out on the project to berth an LNG-storing tanker in Marsaxlokk Bay.

Muscat, who said that ‘leading EU experts’ were consulted on the project, was speaking at a political activity in Birzebbuga with the aim of allaying any fears which the residents in the area might have for the proposed project. He said that deploying a tanker was a better solution to constructing land-based gas tanks, as the vessel would be able to leave once it was not needed anymore.

In fact, he said that it was the Opposition who had created this fear, by resorting to scare-mongering tactics.

“This government is here to promote courage and not instill fear,” he said, stressing that once the pipeline between Malta and Sicily was completed, the tanker will be removed.

Furthermore, Muscat blasted the Opposition for using the South of Malta as a political battleground – an area which he said the PN, when in government, never stood up for. He said that, whereas today the PN was trying to give the impression that it had the South’s interest at heart, it was that same party that had transformed the area into a ‘wasteland’.

Referring to the oil scandal which rocked the country last year – which revealed that hundreds of thousands of monies in commissions were being paid for the purchasing of oil – Muscat said that when Italy had reached an agreement with North Africa to set up a gas interconnector similar to the one currently being built between Malta and Sicily, the Italians had offered to include Malta in the deal.

The PN government at the time, however, had opted to stick with oil. Comparing the situation to a neighbour passing a pipe through one’s own living room against no compensatory sum , Muscat said that one can now understand the reasons for such a decision.

The PM said that government was also looking into similar pipeline projects with Libya so that Malta could even "become a supplier of gas to other European countries".

Muscat confirmed that government aimed to close down the Marsa power station and dismantle the Delimara chimney within the year, thereby “freeing residents of any silent killers”.

“One of this government’s priorities is to make sure that the air which we breathe and that our children breathe is clean,” he said.

In reference to the imminent reduction in water and electricity tariffs – which Muscat said will come into effect as of March 31st of this year – the PM said that the Opposition was now in favour of the move, just as it was in favour of switching the energy source from oil to gas.

“The Opposition seems to agree with many things now, but my question would then be ‘Why wasn’t anything done about it over the span of 25 years?’,” he said.

Muscat said that, as a result of the recent agreement between government and Chinese-state owned company Shanghai Electric Power, with the latter injecting a total of €320 million in Enemalta, many jobs of employees at the corporation have been safeguarded.

“As I keep my word with the public, I keep my word with Enemalta employees that their jobs are not at risk,” he said.

Prior to Muscat’s speech, Environment minister Leo Brincat said that the government’s calls to have a better environment was not merely a slogan catch-phrase but rather something the government truly believed in.

Brincat said that he was ‘proud’ to form part of a government that was in favour of business - as this equated to economic growth for the country – but he said that this needn’t mean that the environment will be overlooked.

“The argument used which suggests that business and the environment cannot work hand-in-hand is a very short-sighted one,” he said.

Labour MP Justyne Caruana said that the ‘highest standard of safety’ was a focal point for government when studies on the new power station and the LNG tanker were carried out.

And Labour MEP candidate Charlon Gouder also spoke, claiming that Malta’s representation in the European Parliament could be significant if used well – and not in the way, he said, that the Nationalist MEPS did when they ‘tarnished’ Malta’s name during the Individual Investor Programme (IIP) hearing.