'Substantial' EU funds at risk due to plant delays

Brussels is threatening to withhold a substantial amount of EU funding after delays in connection with the construction of three sewage treatment plants.

The European Commission is concerned in particular about the delays at the biggest of the three plants, the one in Ta' Barkat near Xgħajra, known as the South Sewage Treatment Plant, which is estimated to cost some €57 million (Lm24.47m), sources close to the European Commission have told The Sunday Times.

"All three projects - two in Malta and one in Gozo - had to be completed by March 2007. The Gozo plant was inaugurated only last January, the one at Ċumnija in Mellieħa is still under construction, and the south plant has not even started being built.

This is very serious and we are considering taking action, including withholding some or all of the EU funds dedicated to this project," the sources said.

Seventy per cent of the funds needed for the south waste water treatment plant are supposed to be derived from the EU's coffers. The co-ordination and construction of these projects was entrusted by the government to the Water Services Corporation.

Delays on the only completed project, the sewage treatment plant in Gozo, has already had repercussions.

Brussels decided to withhold €253,191 (Lm108,670) of the EU funds originally granted for this project due to its late completion.

Decisions are still to be taken on the other two projects and the withholding of funds is not being ruled out.

"Unfortunately, Malta is very late and we have very rigid rules to follow when it comes to EU funds," the Commission sources said.

"We already had to withhold some funds on the Gozo plant. Discussions with the Maltese authorities on the other two plants are still ongoing and we are considering granting some extensions. However, there is a limit and some funds will definitely be lost."

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, in a reply to Labour MEP Joseph Muscat, made it clear that no transitional period is applicable to the Malta south urban waste water treatment plant.

He said that the Commission had been informed by the Maltese authorities that there would be a delay for the south treatment plant.

It was told that the tender for the construction of the treatment plant was published in April 2007 and that sewage treatment at the plant would go one step further than originally envisaged, significantly improving bathing water quality to the south west of Malta.

He said that according to the Maltese authorities the project should now be completed during the first quarter of 2009.

However, even the latest information given to the Commission seems to be going off track and Mr Dimas has not ruled out action.

Last week, The Sunday Times reported that the tender for the construction of the south waste water plant had not yet been decided and that the two bids still in the race were well over the budget determined by the WSC.

Malta must build these plants in order to come in line with the EU's urban waste water directive which stipulates that sewage has to be treated before it is dumped into the sea. To date, only the Gozo plant complies with this directive.