Labour Party, ministry clash over power station tender

Labour yesterday called on the Prime Minister to take action over the "contaminated" contract awarded to a Danish energy company for the extension of the Delimara power station - but its claims were denied by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Enemalta.

In the motion, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt was accused of changing environmental laws to benefit this particular company's equipment.

The opposition said the government should not have awarded the contract to BWSC for a number of reasons. It criticised the ministry for choosing bulky and polluting equipment with high operation costs that could result in higher tariffs.

However, the Infrastructure Ministry insisted that the contract was awarded to the lowest suitable bidder, and the new plant would conform to EU environment norms.

Dr Gatt said he looked forward to the debate as it would show that everything was above board and the technology that was selected would keep power tariffs at the lowest levels possible.

This was confirmed by the fact that no appeals were made by the bidders throughout the process.

Instead, the ministry said, opposition leader Joseph Muscat had become the "messenger" for the companies that lost out.