Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning that the people were currently facing the same choice they faced 40 years ago - between a Labour government which was promising a good future, and an opposition which was scaremongering.
Speaking outside the Labour Party Club in Birzebbuga, he said that while the opposition was now scaremongering about the gas storage plans in Marsaxlokk, 40 years ago it was scaring the people about the closure of the military base.
Dr Muscat said he was sure Labour was on the right side of history, something, which, he admitted, was not always the case in the past.
He paid tribute to 'our visionary father' Dom Mintoff for having achieved freedom for Malta 40 years ago with the closure of the military base on March 31, 1979.
He said the people, especially those in the south, would soon experience another freedom, the freedom from a million tons of harmful emissions from the power stations every year. That was the environmental priority of this government.
If the PN wanted to be credible with the people of the south, it should first apologise for its actions in the past 25 years which had turned the region into a mizbla (a dump) with several contaminating projects.
The present government would close down the Marsa power station and Delimara I including its high chimney in Delimara, he said. The Enemalta tanks near the Birzebbuga flats would also be removed.
In contrast, the former government had even blocked compensation for Birzebbuga for the extension of Malta Freeport. The present government would be helping Birzebbuga council to get the compensation it was entitled to (some €800,000 from Malta Freeport).
Dr Muscat said the PN should explain how the former government gave the green light for the new gas cylinder-filling station near Birzebbuga, despite opposition from the Civil Aviation Department, among others. Instead of commissioning studies, the former Cabinet, on the prompting of Austin Gatt, simply decided it would make good any damages.
So much for concerns for health and safety concerns at the time.
Dr Muscat said the second major development woudl be the lowering of power and water tariffs as from the end of this month.
He referred to comments in Parliament last week by PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco that there was consensus on switching to gas and on lowering electricity rates and said he had thought Dr de Marco was coming from a different party.
Clearly, the Opposition was not united and Dr Busuttil had been hijacked by a small group of extremists within his own party.
He urged Dr Busuttil not to to heed a group which might have a particular agenda and interests.
Dr Muscat said Dr Busuttil should also not seek to scare Enemalta workers.The government would stand by itspromise to the workers that their jobs were not at risk.
"We are assuring them of a future. Malta will become an energy exporter."
Dr Muscat said that Malta had convinced its European counterparts that apart from the gas pipeline and the interconnector from mainland Europe, it also wanted to be connected with Libya so that if European countries needed gas, Malta would be the base that Europe could turn to.
Indeed, there were plans in the past for a gas pipeline from Libya, but the former government rejected them. In view of the oil procurement scandal, it was now easier to understand why, Dr Muscat said.
Turning specifically to the new power station project, Dr Muscat said the government felt it would be easier to have a gas tanker berthed there than to build large tanks on shore. That way, the tanker could be removed once it was no longer needed.
Dr Muscat said the government was also sticking to its promise to reduce energy tariffs for businesses next year, This would boost the economy and jobs.
Near the end of his speech, Dr Muscat said Dr Busuttil had still not explained how, under the former government, a company which he formed part of, was awarded contracts without a call for tenders.