Power plant delay admission of government's 'failure' - de Marco

Energy minister Konrad Mizzi’s announcement that the new gas power plant will be completed in June 2016 is an admission of its failure and a “Chinese excuse to cover-up its mess,” PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said.

Addressing a press conference this afternoon, de Marco argued that the 15-month delay is a confirmation that the Labour government “deceived the people,” and has dialed to “fulfill its main electoral promise.”

Earlier, energy minister Konrad Mizzi told parliament that rather than March 2015. Malta will be making use of a gas-generated electricity by June 2016.

“Konrad Mizzi is using the deal over the Chinese investment at Enemalta to cover the government’s shortcomings. This is nothing but an excuse to mask the government’s failures.”

“Both Prime Minsiter Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi must now shoulder political responsibility due to this delay,” he underlined.

The PN deputy leader also took issue at the energy minister for “not providing concrete details,” arguing that Mizzi did not provide concrete goals, but merely projections.

“The government did not provide any indication of when the works on the plan will commence and end. Mizzi did not provide a strict timeframe either, but only said that the government expects to buy the gas-generated electricity from the new plant by June 2016,” he said.

Hitting out at Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s previous claims that the project would only be delayed by a couple of months, de Marco said that the 15-month delay would result in a loss of €234 million.

He explained that since the financial estimates in the budget state that the new plant would generate €187 million, the 15-month delay will have a negative impact on the economy.  

“It is easy enough to reduce utility tariffs. The real challenge is financing them. So far, the government has not provided any concrete information as to how it will finance the reductions.”

“At this moment, it is only guess work. It is still unknown whether the government will increase taxes or subsidies to Enemalta,” de Marco argued while adding that it made no sense to commit to purchasing power from the Shanghai Electric Power owned BWSC turbine if cheaper electricity could be bought through the interconnector.  

Calling on the government to publish the ElectroGas agreement and the memorandum of understanding between the government and Shanghai Electric Power, finance spokesman Tonio Fenech also took umbrage at the government for producing electricity at a much higher cost than the rest of Europe.

“If oil prices were at such low prices, a Nationalist government would no doubt reduce electricity tariffs,” Fenech added.