Opposition objections stop gas plant motion debate
A debate on a motion for the transfer of land for the operation and storage of a gas bottling and distribution plant was stopped in the early stages after the opposition objected that the government had not given it a copy of the draft of the contract.
A debate on a motion for the transfer of land for the operation and storage of a gas bottling and distribution plant was stopped in the early stages after the opposition objected that the government had not given it a copy of the draft of the contract. Mr Speaker Louis Galea stopped the proceedings and adjourned the sitting to give his ruling.
The motion, moved by the Parliamentary Secretary for Revenues and Land Jason Azzopardi, followed the government's decision to privatise Enemalta's gas section.
Dr Azzopardi said that Parliament was being requested to authorise the right of passage for a pipeline from the Freeport to Bengħisa where the new LPG storage and production plant is to be built.
It was also authorising Enemalta to transfer, on a 33-year sub-lease basis, the land for the building of this plant. The land was given to Enemalta by emphytheusis for 65 years in 2004.
Enemalta employees have been given the opportunity to choose whether to work for Gasco or remain on Enemalta's books. Some had already expressed a wish to join Gasco.
On a point of order, Labour MP Charles Mangion said that, against common practice, the opposition had not been presented with a copy of the draft agreement. Dr Azzopardi said that the practice was for such contracts to be tabled only after they were signed.
Dr Mangion insisted that it did not make sense for the opposition to approve the transfer of government property before knowing what it was approving. For the opposition to justify the award of the land, it needed to know the obligations being placed on the provider.
The opposition had been given a copy of the agreement even in the case of SmartCity, he pointed out.
Dr Azzopardi did not agree that it was House practice to table unsigned contracts. The government had already made it clear it would table the contract once it was signed.
Moreover, he said, the opposition was not being fair to him in asking about the contract conditions when he had not been allowed to finish his speech, during which he intended to speak about them. The opposition, he claimed, was jumping the gun.
The House was then adjourned for the Speaker to give a ruling.
Earlier in the sitting, Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici moved the first reading of two Bills, one amending the Commercial Code and the other to amend the Malta Standards Authority Act.