New AFM fuel farm inaugurated

A new fuel farm for the armed forces of Malta (AFM) was inaugurated by national security minister Carmelo Abela earlier today.

The storage space will be used by the maritime section of the armed forces, and it was inaugurated by parliamentary secretary for EU funds Ian Borg and Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi.

“The investment in the maritime squad will amount to €10 million by the end of the year,” Abela said, explaining that the funds had gone into various projects and machinery which were in turn co-financed by the EU.

Abela said that standards would be raised in terms of partially autonomous fuel distribution in the maritime base. He further explained that the move was part of a modernization strategy for AFM, and that the individual project, which was co-financed by the EU, had amounted to €1.7 million.

“Health and security standards for soldiers will continue to be raised to conform with international standards and ensure that they have more advanced tools to carry out their jobs properly.”

Abela stressed that the project would allow shorten the time periods for sea vessels to be able to carry out their missions and operations.

“The operations range from border controls to other military activities,” Abela said.

Abela stressed the importance of safeguarding Maltese territory and the need to strengthen the maritime squad to secure national safety and face the tragedies occurring in the Mediterranean region.

Borg explained that a call from the home security fund would be issued in the coming days.

“The funds essentially mean that Malta will be benefitting from €75 million of European funds 2014-2020,” he said adding that the funds would go into strengthening national security and helping to transport irregular migrants who aren’t given asylum back to their countries.

Curmi said that so far fuel was only available from tankers on land, or from privately owned bowsers.

“The increase in operations of the maritime squad have led the army to develop this new fuel farm, to allow the army to have fuel stored at the base itself,” he said, adding that there was enough fuel to sustain the army’s vessels for some time.

“The project includes new tanks for fuel storage, a filtration system, pumps, a transportation system to take the fuel to the vessels, as well as an advanced security system to prevent fires.”