The Energy Ministry and Electrogas both insist the planned gas-fired plant in Delimara will be delivered “according to the agreed terms of the contract”.
The government has pledged to have the plant completed by March 2015 but a few weeks ago, industry website Tradewindnews.com claimed the project had been delayed and delivery was now expected by March 2016.
However, when contacted for a reaction both the Energy Ministry and Electrogas, the private consortium that won the bid to build the plant, described the article as “speculation”.
Michael Kunz, the project coordinator for Electrogas, said his company did not normally comment on speculation and insisted the project was on track despite the fact that there were no works on site yet.
The new power and gas project is progressing as per project plan
“We are pleased to confirm that Electrogas continues to work hard to achieve the timelines agreed with the government. We believe that we are well placed to meet these timelines,” he said.
The Energy Ministry, while not specifying March 2015, said: “The new power and gas project is progressing as per project plan. The project will be delivered in line with Enemalta’s business plan.”
Details of the €400 million contract between the consortium and the government have not yet been released, despite several calls by the media and the Opposition.
Enemalta’s business plan has not been unveiled so far either.
Following the last general election, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi had given a guarantee that the new power plant, together with the needed gas infrastructure, would be completed by March 2015.
A number of observers, including former Enemalta chairman Robert Ghirlando, have expressed reservations on the tight timeline.
Before the election, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had said that he was taking “personal responsibility” for the energy project and indicated he would step down if his pledge does not materialise.
Last week, Dr Mizzi said that some works – the digging of testing boreholes – had started.
Electrogas, a consortium made up of different international partners including the Maltese GEM Holdings, has a contract with Enemalta to start supplying it with all the electricity to be produced by the new gas power plant.
Apart from building the plant, the consortium will also need to have in place a re-gasification plant and a new jetty for the berthing of a large LNG vessel which will serve as a storage facility for the liquefied national gas (LNG).
According to the consortium, the vessel has already been secured for the project.