Facts are not disposable waste

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo's Talking Point (May 22) seems intent on hiding the facts about the Delimara power station extension and replacing them with misconceptions aimed at scaremongering. By continuing to pollute the facts, he thinks he can turn them into waste. Well, he cannot. Here are the facts.

First, the government has acquired a diesel engine powerplant which fully meets all EU environmental directives, the best environmental and health guarantee possible. It supplies an efficient, cost-effective and flexible generation of electricity and it is definitely not "high risk". In addition, from BWSC we obtained the tightest contractual guarantees possible of these standards. They have to deliver the standards and, if they do not, they will have to remedy and at their own expense. This is defined in clause CC4.25 in the contract, which states: "If the plant has met the net output requirement, but fails to meet the emission limits, the plant cannot be taken over and it will be considered as not complete", and clause CC4.23, which lays down that: "Upon receipt of such notice, the contractor shall, with all speed and at his own expense, make good the defects so specified." The clauses have also been observed by the Auditor General in his report on pages 63 and 84 respectively.

Second, Enemalta is already exporting the waste from its existing plants to be processed. This waste is either recycled or landfilled as in inert form in Italy and Germany. This waste is not toxic and only 20 per cent of it is classified as "hazardous". Furthermore, the extent of this hazardousness is that it is an irritant, a category which includes, for comparison purposes, coal ashes produced by a BBQ.

This is the context in which Labour's irresponsible scaremongering needs to be put.

Third, the present cost of flyash disposal is €235 (including VAT) per tonne. The new plant is expected to produce 10,800 tonnes annually using HFO with one per cent sulphur content. Using the 0.7 per cent sulphur fuel currently being used by Enemalta would reduce this to 7,600 tonnes or 10,800 m3 annually. The cost of disposal would therefore be about €2.5 million. As part of the tender evaluation, Enemalta took a worst-case scenario and used a disposal cost of €420 per m3 (ex VAT).

Fourth, the waste material produced by the plant is not subject to international transport restrictions. It simply needs a permit to be shipped for processing in licensed facilities. There is no risk involved in the transport of this material, either on land or by sea. In fact, the existing flyash is transported from Marsa and Delimara to the Freeport and from there to Italy by sea. From there on it is again transported by road.

Fifth, the BWSC plant is not a prototype. Even the Auditor General's report acknowledges that all equipment is tried and tested while remarking that their combination together is not. However, David Spiteri Gingell, the head of the evaluation committee who, in the words of Leo Brincat during Bondì+ (May 17), enjoys bipartisan respect, confirmed in public that a plant in South Korea is already operating with a similar exhaust gas cleaning solution.

Finally, and not insignificantly, if we produced electricity from diesel rather than HFO, the electricity bills would have spiked up by 30 per cent. As we have repeatedly stated, if the price of diesel changes, the plant gives us the facility to switch to it, or to gas, for that matter.

These are the facts, clean and simple.

The author is Minister for Finance, Economy and Investment and responsible for Enemalta Corporation.