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Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 11:53

Gas power station 'already being explored by government'

Video: Mark Zammit Cordina

A gas powered power station was a line that the government was already exploring, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said in initial comments about Labour’s press conference this morning announcing its plans for the energy sector.

Dr Gonzi said he still had to see what the proposal was in detail and would give his reaction at a later stage, possibly today or in the coming days.

The Nationalist government, he said, had always done everything for the water and electricity bills to be as sustainable as possible

Dr Gonzi was addressing a gathering for families Qalb il-Familja, at Villa Arrigo in Naxxar.

He spoke on education saying that as this was one of the most important issues for parents so it had to be equally important for the government.

He said that while Malta considered stipends to be an investment, the UK had increased university fees, which led to the number of students going down by 40,000.

Dr Gonzi said that, since 2000 more than 2,000 scholarships were given out and this was an investment in the country future.

This was “a secure future”.

From Villa Arrigo, Dr Gonzi then visited the Cavalieri Hotel in St Julian's which he toured together with Tourism Minister Mario de Marco and met the staff.

Dr Gonzi at the Cavalieri Hotel.Dr Gonzi at the Cavalieri Hotel.

At the end of the visit staff were invited to ask questions and in his replies, the Prime Minister said that the indications for tourism in 2013 are very encouraging. He said that the trends for next year are very positive especially with the increase in airline routes.

Dr Gonzi said "we all have to treat tourists with respect and this has to be the culture of the whole country".

The Prime Minister said that tourist arrivals increased by 11 per cent over the arrivals in the first 11 months of 2008.

Tourists spent more than 1 million nights in Malta over and above the number of nights they spent here in 2008 and they spent 278 million euros more

He also pointed out that he was recently informed that the rate of participation of Maltese women in the labour market had gone up from 38.6 per cent to 44 per cent. “That is very positive as we’re inching closer to the European median,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that Malta still had the sixth lowest unemployment rate among EU countries.

At 6.9 per cent, the country's unemployment rate was well below the EU average. Cyprus, on the other hand, saw one of the largest increases in unemployment with this going up from 9.5 to 14 per cent.

Dr Gonzi noted that the average salary in Malta had increased by 400 euros a year.

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B. Farrugia

Jan 9th, 18:23

jekk u meta jahdem.

ANTHONY PAVIA

Jan 8th, 18:37

You must have read wrong Albert. I am sure I read €400 a week.

Joe Busuttil

Jan 8th, 21:11

@ Ant Pavia-----Read the last sentence again. And again. And again.

B. Farrugia

Jan 8th, 21:53

It was initially 600 a week

Joe Busuttil

Jan 9th, 09:02

@ Mr Pavia------You didn't read 400E a day did you?

Joe Vella

Jan 8th, 19:04

Albert Dimech, where are you Living? BWSC is operating and have surpassed all expectations. Delimara 2, as it is known, is not only operating but it doing so by omitting less emissions than it was expected and working at a higher efficiency by using less oil. I guess Super One would have not made you aware of all this.

Giocchino Attard

Jan 8th, 19:39

Why cry laugh its the biggest joke of the pns

m farrugia

Jan 8th, 17:32

because to get gas we have to have the pipeline to siciy ready, for this govt is tapping eu funds, so we have to wait for eu funds in next budget & for pipeline to be built. so what do we do in the meantime stay without electiricty until pipeline is ready? it therefore makes sense to use another fuel until reliable supply of gas is avialable.

some people just think that things happen overnight

Charles Micallef

Jan 8th, 18:09

m. farrugia, wrong we did not have to wait for the gas pipeline to fire the new power station with gas, a depot would have done the trick... things happening overnight......, this is the joke comment of the day!!!

Edward Borg

Jan 8th, 17:33

Hekk tamlu intom tal lejber maria? Tirrumblaw in nies? Mur afdakom!

Mr Albert Dimech

Jan 8th, 17:58

Eżatt Colin, m'hemmx bżonn aktar kummenti, qed jirrikonoxxi li proposta tajba.

m farrugia

Jan 8th, 17:37

ghax ghad mghandhiex pipeline tal gas. il gvern diga qed jipprova igib fondi mill eu (barra dak i lmiljun li qalilna li ha ngibu muscat qabel ir referendum) biex jaghmel il pipeline ghal sqallija. dan zgur mhux se jsir millum ghal ghada, sakemm il pipeline ikun lest zgur ridna nuzaw tip ta fuel iehor prattiku, l-affarijiet ma jsirux millum ghal ghada jew bil magic kif jipprova ibella muscat

Antonella Briffa

Jan 8th, 16:06

you surely know what it means Mr. Brincat... you're always here posting comments (negatively of course). Such a comfortable life you know, constantly commenting. Do you have anything better to do maybe? Or are you so comfortable thanks to GonziPN that all you do is post on TOM?

Che dura le vita eh!

Mr Joe Micallef

Jan 8th, 15:49

Gonzi promised studies for wind farms. Done and results do not seem to support investment
Accommodate BWSC??? What the heck are you talking about - BWSC do both. HFO was chosen because at time of decision HFO was far cheaper and more readily available.

Go fishing! Hopefully you'll embarrass yourself less.

Mr Joe Micallef

Jan 8th, 15:38

Fejn smajta din? zgur fuq il one

Joseph Borg

Jan 8th, 15:31

Very pertinent question. thanks

Mr Joe Micallef

Jan 8th, 15:37

Simple because at time decision was taken Fuel Oil was the cheaper option. This has also been confirmed by the NAO.

That said there is absolutely no guarantee that in the coming years gas will remain cheaper than oil, in fact the contrary is expected. The only fossil fuel oil that is expected to remain cheaper for the short to medium term is coal.

N. Zahra

Jan 8th, 15:38

Ta xejn Mr. Borg! I wish that one of the many Energy and Accounting Experts that commented on Labour's article answers me though? As this is genuinely one of the questions going through my head.

Joseph Borg

Jan 8th, 15:31

So you were not bitten during those 5 years? did you also receive a 500 euro increment?

George Cassar

Jan 8th, 16:09

I really would be shy if my party committed such things as giving itself 500 euro increase a week, if they installed a power station using HFO when now he said his government is exploring the gas option. Shy indeed! Bitten - not any more! This time I will vote for Jospeh's concrete measures

John Lusignan

Jan 8th, 15:27

Thats a good one! Decision making skills.....look at all the bad decisions labour has made in the past! We know you don't want to talk about labours past....but thats labours CV for the job! Furthermore if anything labour is confirming PN's sound energy policy since the government made an application for offshore gas storage in Oct 2012. Labour just put it in a power point presentation!

Mr Joe Micallef

Jan 8th, 15:42

You mean that Cyprus Joe has nothing new to offer. The gas fired generators have been on the table for at least two years, since when it became possible to obtain EU funds (the ones Cyprus Joe lied about and made you vote against whilst he cowered out) for a gas pipeline. If not why would the PN government install a turbine that could also be converted to gas.

cesco di luigi

Jan 8th, 15:52

Great comment. Fully agree. Stipends are not an investment at all. It's proper education that is an investment...and I mean wholesome education, not the give me your notes type of education we have at UNI.

V Cassar

Jan 8th, 15:11

I do get your idea, but your equation fails to be correct. A higher number of qualified persons does not increase the amount of jobs available to that particular sector; When a vacancy is open it will only be filled by the most qualified, and is irrelevant of how many people have graduated. the rest might still be working as fast food vendors.

David Apap

Jan 8th, 16:17

Very valid point. However, a counter argument is that having people qualified would make it possible for investors to actually be able to invest as otherwise it would be useless to inject capital when there is a lack of workforce.
I may be lucky, as my line, which is the finance sector, people have jobs before they actually leave university as well.

Andrew Siad

Jan 8th, 16:03

and voting bil qalb for them. ma jafx jisthi

J Martinelli

Jan 8th, 14:03

Repaying a 'loan' called 'stipends' is no investment. An investment yields dividends and not installments.
Besides, the first two years are usually spent setting up office, finding clients, buying furniture & equipment associated with the profession. Then, as M Cachia proposes face the obligation of repaying several thousands.
Should the govt ask assistance given to industry, back?

M. Cachia

Jan 8th, 15:09

@ J Martinelli

What several thousands are you talking about? FYI this practice is already in place with other sponsored training/qualification. I know of professional jobs were people start paying off for their training from day 1 they start working and I am talking about Real Thousands then!

Unless we come clean and real on this issue, we can never move forward. We would just do as the ostrich!

C Muscat

Jan 8th, 12:59

@ Paul Caruana tajjeb li tkun taf li wiehed mill ftit investimenti li jista jaghmel il-pajjiz hu fl-istudenti. L-unika differenza hi li taht GonziPN jirnexxu biss ta ghajnejhom Blu.
Ahna iffurtunati bhal dak li ghandu negozju stabbilit u l-investiment jibqa sostenibbli u nistghu nibqghu naghtu kollox b xejn jekk inhalluhom jahdmu u juzaw dak li hadu. PN juza inqas minn 50% blu only

C. Bartoli

Jan 8th, 13:57

@C Muscat ghalhekk fiz zmien mintoff kien hemm 700 student biss u illum hemm 12,000 ghaliex ta ghajnejhom blu biss illum jista immoru l-universita. Tiftahlix kotba ta ghax wara li mintoff hlieli 5 snin nistudja l-gharbi bilfors qalli ma tistax tidhol l-universita ghax mghandiex parrinu. Ara it-tfal tieghi it-tnejn gradwaw u li kieku ma kienx li gheni il-gvern kif setaw ikomplu jistudjaw.

Julian Borg

Jan 8th, 14:02

@C Muscat - how can you say only PN supporters are helped into and post university? this is a blatant lie - there is no discrimination. The PN creates the environment for everyone to study and educate themselves then they need to go into the workforce and work hard to succeed. Discrimination only exists in the mind of those that expect to be promoted without merit but because of who they are.

J Martinelli

Jan 8th, 14:12

Paul, Malta's situation may be different from the "other countries (which) have long ago decided that such "free" tertiary education is unsustainable!"
Especially since joining the EU, statistics showed that Malta lagged in students seeking tertiary education, thus more emphasis on 'stipends'.
Remember Labour's loud laments in Parliament about Malta not being in the forefront in this area?

paul camilleri

Jan 8th, 14:47

Mr Charles Camilleri.

when shopping you meet up with a lot of sales representatives which offer you a product and it is up to the salesman to make his product look so incredable nice that you buy it, only to find out later that what you brought is nothing like what you have been told. unfortunatly JM is like a saleman and is trying to dupe you into thinking that what he is offering is better.

Charles Camilleri

Jan 8th, 14:57

@paul

Exactly what happened to Malta in 2008 we bought the wrong product :)

fred sammut

Jan 8th, 15:17

yes...... don t forget to look at the EXPIRY DATE !!!!

fred sammut

Jan 8th, 15:18

@ Mr. Paul Camilleri....... Expiry Date....!!

paul camilleri

Jan 8th, 16:07

@ Mr C.Camilleri
in 2008 we actually brought the right product because we still have jobs and no austerity sanctions, thanks to the right choice. @ Mr Fred Sammut somethings do not have an Expiry Date, and somethings go sour before their expiry date, i suggest that you evaluate what you buy before you buy it.

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