Marsascala residents are still without the lower electricity bills they were promised when the recycling plant was built in their locality.

Talks are ongoing with the utility company Arms Ltd to facilitate the rebate scheme

The government is insisting the proposal still stands.

A spokesman for the Resources Ministry said talks were going on with the utility billing company Arms Ltd to “facilitate the rebate scheme”. No deadline was given.

In September 2007, then Environment Minister George Pullicino had promised Marsascala residents that they would be charged lower electricity rates as compensation for the inconvenience caused by the facility.

The recycling plant also produces electricity from the composting process, enough to power up 1,400 homes in a year.

The pledge was repeated in January 2008 by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi when visiting the plant.

Speaking on the issue in Parliament recently, Labour MP Owen Bonnici, who lives in Marsascala, said that during home visits constituents reminded him of the “broken promise”.

“I will insist that this promise is kept,” Dr Bonnici said, asking whether the commitment to help residents was substituted by the government’s offer to provide free heating for the indoor pool at the nearby Inspire facility for people with disabilities.

The first phase of the contentious recycling plant was inaugurated in January 2008 and the last energy-generating phase last year.

The recycling facility cost €27 million and the EU funded just over €16 million of the cost.

A similar promise to offer reduced electricity rates was made to Magħtab residents as compensation for the construction of a landfill in the locality next to the old waste dump that has been closed.

The ministry spokesman said that the exercise to offer reduced electricity rates would first be conducted in Marsascala and eventually extended to Magħtab.