Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said this morning that the country will be facing head on the energy challenge in the biggest reform the country will see for the coming years.

Closing the party’s general council, the Prime Minister said that a system incentivising families who did not waste energy had to be found, tariffs had to be changed to reflect market fluctuations and investment in alternative sources of energy had to be undertaken.

Dr Gonzi said that the government would find the money to help families invest in alternative sources of energy and to develop a wind farm in shallow waters - at is-Sikka l-Bajda.

Now that the decision to develop this farm had been taken, the process had to be hastened and an environment impact assessment had to be carried out.

This farm would generate enough electricity for 21,000 families. A parallel investment would be Malta’s cable link connection to Sicily for more security provision wise and for the country to be able to sell any extra energy the farm might produce.

The Prime Minister said that while the government was not bound to its utility rate proposals, even because the price of oil had gone down, the country had to have a system which responded to market fluctuations. The weakest in society would continue to be assisted and families who did their utmost to conserve energy would be encouraged.

Dr Gonzi said that the necessary balance had to be found because the government was not ready to take the country to the brink of bankruptcy. Any solutions found, he said, had to be sustainable.

The Prime Minister referred to the current international situation describing it as a hurricane “the like of which the world has never seen”.

One could never have imagined that what happened last month would ever take place with the biggest financial institutions, which had become household names, falling apart and international banks not trusting each other.

The country was riding the waves thanks to the right decisions the government had taken in the past, even in difficult moments.

He recalled the situation four years ago when the economy had been going through a difficult period and thousands of workers had lost their job. Then, he had promised these workers he would do his utmost to get investment and help them find a new job. Thanks to the government’s vision, new jobs had been created and new factories had invested in Malta. In fact, since the country’s membership in the EU 11,000 jobs were created in the private sector.

At the beginning of his address, the Prime Minister paid tribute to the late Labour MP Karl Chircop whose funeral was held yesterday.

He said that Dr Chircop as an MP had sent an important message and the people showed that they appreciated genuine politicians of integrity.