(Adds PN statement)
The government will be funding the reduction in electricity tariffs through a number of measures which would not entail more taxes, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning.
Speaking at Marsaxlokk, Dr Muscat said this government would place Enemalta on its feet, improve its operations and reduce losses, complete the interconnector project on time, close the Marsa power station, and completely convert the production of electricity in Malta from heavy fuel oil to gas.
Dr Muscat said that his government inherited a corporation that was nearly bankrupt and on the verge of bringing the country down.
His government inherited a debt of €700 million just from Enemalta. In just over a year the corporation was now back on its own feet, banks were safe and the country could look ahead.
The government managed to solve the situation by finding a strategic partner, one of the world’s biggest companies, to invest in the country’s energy.
This company would, within a few weeks, invest more than €300 million in Enemalta, helping it to progress.
The government also worked to improve Enemalta’s operations and reduced its losses by €20 million in just one year.
Dr Muscat said that the government had come up with a system to stop those who were stealing electricity and giving the Armier boathouses an electricity metre did not mean that their position was being regularised.
"There cannot be a situation of people using electricity without paying for it," he said.
Dr Muscat also said that the government would soon announce the first investment that Enemalta and China Power and Shanghai Electric would be undergoing regionally investing in other countries to obtain more funds for Malta.
The Prime Minister said his government had also worked to complete the interconnector project on time. The previous government had allowed the project to fall behind and when the new government took over there were no permits for the project. All permits had now been obtained.
Dr Muscat said that the interconnector would give the country electricity at a cheaper rate than that produced by heavy fuel oil but at a more expensive rate than that produced by gas.
However, although it would help the country stabilise its supply, Sicily most often did not have enough electricity for itself and would not guarantee that it would give Malta the electricity it needed when it needed it.
Dr Muscat said that the government would also be closing the Marsa power station in the next few months, something the previous government had been promising to do since 1987.
He also said that the government was in negotiations with the Chinese company investing in Enemalta to ensure that no workers lost their job.
Dr Muscat said that Enemalta was to be operating wholly on gas. The BWSC plant was to be completely transformed to gas as promised before election, even if this will be a few months later than promised. The new plant would also be gas operated.
Dr Muscat also spoke on Malta’s successes in the employment sector but noted that half of the jobs being created were being taken up by foreigners.
The government, he said, would soon be in a position to ensure that contractors obtaining government contracts offered decent wages to attract Maltese people take up the jobs.
The government would also be overhauling the social welfare system so that only people who really could not work were given benefits.
“Thieves and people who are lazy people will not be shielded by this government,” Dr Muscat said.
The Prime Minister also said that Malta had to become to the Mediterranean what Dubai was to the Gulf and what Singapore was to Asia.
The government, he said, was offering investors who wanted to invest in Africa but could not because of the situation there the stability of a European state that was on the doorstep of Africa.
This would have major economic results for Malta.
PN STATEMENT
In a statement, the Nationalist Party called on Dr Muscat to stop trying to fool people.
Dr Muscat, the PN said, confirmed that he would not be building a power station to reduce water and electricity tariffs and this meant that he would not be keeping to his biggest promise to the detriment of his credibility.
This project, the PN said, was Dr Muscat’s from beginning to end and he had no one else to blame.
Dr Muscat had been saying the project was on track for the past year and a half and it now transpired this was not the case.
The people, the PN said, deserved clear answers and to be given what they were promised. They had the right to know what was to become of the project, through which, as Dr Muscat had said, tariffs would go down.
It was time for Dr Muscat to say the truth, the PN said.