Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi has finally acknowledged that the new Delimara gas plant will not be up and running by the target date of March 2015. A new date will be announced towards November and the minister did not give target indications yesterday.
The declaration comes after the Prime Minister set the ball rolling on Friday when he answered a question regarding the completion of the power plant by pointing out the government’s plan to reduce water and electricity bills “does not depend on the gas plant becoming operational in March of next year”.
Dr Mizzi spoke to The Sunday Times of Malta in a brief telephone interview from Beijing, where he is meeting officials from the Shanghai Electric Power (SEP), which is investing €320 million in the energy corporation.
He said work on the new plant has been held up by three-way talks between Enemalta, Electrogas – the contractor responsible for the new power station – and Shanghai Electric in relation to the way the new gas power station will interface with the BWSC plant. Under the agreement with the Chinese energy giant, SEP would buy 33 per cent of Enemalta but will have a controlling 70 per cent of the BWSC plant, which it will convert to gas, through new investment.
Energy tariffs for businesses will still be reduced in March. “We will be reducing water and electricity bills for businesses by March 2015 because Enemalta is in a very good position to do it,” he said.
Labour’s energy plan became especially politically charged after the Prime Minister pledged to step down should his government fail to deliver during an electoral campaign activity.
Yesterday’s disclosure comes after months of government insistence that everything was on track, despite little signs of progress on the ground in Delimara.
Nonetheless, Dr Mizzi said that when he looked at where the government was now in terms of the bigger picture concerning Enemalta and compared it to where it was right after the election, he would say it had exceeded my expectations.
More in The Sunday Times of Malta.