The Italian permits for the interconnection project between Malta and Italy are to be issued by the beginning of February, Foreign Affairs Minister Francis Zammit Dimech was informed yesterday during a meeting in Rome with his counterpart Giulio Terzi.
The Government has been anxiously awaiting the permits as it plans to start getting supplies of electricity from the Italian mainland by the end of next year.
The electricity cable will link Magħtab to Ragusa in Sicily in a €200 million project.
When the cable comes on line it will enable Malta to close its aging Marsa power station, half of which has just been shut down when the Delimara power station extension came on stream last week. The two foreign ministers also discussed cooperation on the assignment of TV and radio frequencies, irregular immigration, cooperation in search and rescue and the situations in Libya and Syria.