BWSC bid was 'cheapest by far' - Gatt

Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said today that the Opposition was conveniently ignoring a declaration by the Auditor-General that the BWSC bid for the power station extension was the 'cheapest by far' and used proven technology, even if gas technology proposed by rival bidder Bateman was more advanced. Maltese law laid down that the 'most economically advantageous tender' had to be selected, which was why the other bidders had not appealed.

He also called on the Labour Party to explain its political contacts with Israel over the power station extension, as one of the bidders - Bateman - was an Israeli company.

Speaking in Parliament, Dr Gatt said today that the current debate on the power station extension reminded him of the scaremongering of the Labour opposition when the Delimara power station was to be built.

The main claim being made by the opposition in the current debate was corruption, but the Auditor-General had ruled it out, saying there was no evidence of corruption.

The Auditor-General had said that the investigating team had endeavoured to establish the facts based on hard evidence at its disposal - and not allegations - and the inquiry ‘did not come across any hard and conclusive evidence of corruption'.

"The only reality is that the opposition thesis has not been corroborated," Dr Gatt said.

The Audit Office found there was no evidence of political interference, undue influence, criminal offences, insider information or contacts in the contracts department.

The Auditor had also declared that he found administrative shortcomings, but not irregularities - and this despite an 11-month campaign by the Opposition aimed at influencing him.

What the Opposition had not said, Dr Gatt observed, that the NAO (the audit office) condemned another bidder, Bateman, for having tried to exercise political influence. Indeed, the Israeli ambassador had since admitted he spoke to the prime minister. He even told The Times that he raised the matter with the Prime Minister and other politicians.

Dr Gatt said his information was that this issue was discussed between Opposition leader Joseph Muscat and the Israeli ambassador, and the subject was raised by Dr Muscat himself.

Would the Opposition deny this? Would it deny political contacts with Israeli quarters about this contract?

What was behind the Opposition's zeal to stop this contract?

His conclusion, the minister said, was the same as when the first Delimara station was to be built. The Opposition knew that Marsa power station had to close by 2012. That was the year before the election, and he had no doubt that the Opposition did not want Malta to have new power generation facilities in place so that Marsa would be kept open, incurring EU penalties on Malta.

Dr Gatt also asked how the Opposition was not pointing out that Bateman knew that it had lost the contract and had decided not to appeal. Clearly, the Pl was trying to manipulate information for political purposes.

The minister defended the choice of the equipment for the power station extension and quoted comments by Prof. Edward Mallia praising the technology. The issue, he said, was over the fuel which would be used to operate it.

Diesel was cleaner than heavy fuel oil (HFO). Using HFO included the need for abatement measures, but one also needed to consider costs, and it was far cheaper to use HFO than diesel.

Malta would retain the flexibility to use HFO or diesel. It was however, not true that emission levels had been reduced during the tendering process. What it did was to merge the relevant EU directive. Even without that transposition, BWSC would still have qualified for the tender.

The Auditor himself had confirmed that BWSC had won the contract because it was the 'cheaper by far' and the technology was 'tried and tested'. This was conveniently ignored by the opposition, Dr Gatt said.

Bateman had proposed more advanced gas technology, but BWSC won the bid 'hands down' because of costs. The BWSC plant was far cheaper to operate than than proposed by Bateman.