Labour yesterday highlighted a “serious contradiction” between statements made by the Prime Minister and others by the Finance Minister on the damaged Delimara power station turbines.
BWSC has estimated the damage could take between three and six months to be fixed
“The Prime Minister is either trying to mislead the people or is uninformed on this crucial issue,” leader Joseph Muscat told a press conference.
Lawrence Gonzi said on Sunday that the Danish company supplying the new power station, BWSC, had accepted responsibility for the damage and would cover any costs Malta would incur for the delay of the project.
However, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told Parliament on Monday that BWSC was expected to contest the Government’s claims in court and that Enemalta had not yet even calculated the cost of the damage.
Showing audiovisual clips of the contradictory statements, Dr Muscat said the Government clearly had no plan for this sector and was seriously lacking in credibility.
If the damage was not fixed by November 7, BWSC would face a weekly fine of €1.6 million that was capped at €24 million, at which stage the Government could simply ask for a full refund and cancel its contract, Dr Muscat said.
BWSC has estimated the damage could take between three and six months to be fixed, making it likely that the fines would reach the capped figure. Five months, Dr Muscat pointed out, would translate into a fine of €32 million. The Government could also be incurring other expenses from this “fiasco”, such as EU fines for emissions targets.
Meanwhile, BWSC had already been paid for the power station except for €8 million, due to a contract that contained shortcomings already flagged by the Auditor General.
This case, Dr Muscat said, strengthened the Opposition’s arguments that the lease contract of St Philip’s Hospital should be amply scrutinised before it was signed.
Dr Muscat also said the power station recently experienced a discharge of dust, which Mr Fenech had compared to baking powder, saying 90 per cent of it was innocuous. However, there was no thorough analysis of this dust and the Occupational Health and Safety Authority was not notified.
This, Dr Muscat said, was a clear example of how things should not be done by a model employer, continuing to erode the trust in Enemalta’s leadership which already had a history of hiding the truth.
Asked whether the incident of the damaged turbines would impact Labour’s plans to reduce water and electricity tariffs, Dr Muscat said “no”.
Asked whether Labour would give a clear explanation, before the election, of when it would reduce energy prices, and by how much, Dr Muscat said “yes”.
He was flanked by Labour whip Joe Mizzi (who first flagged the damaged turbine issue), energy spokeswoman Marlene Farrugia and Labour candidate Konrad Mizzi.