The European Commission was not notified that the government has leased at no charge a large area of public land in Delimara to the private consortium building the new gas-fired power station, according to sources, even if there is a possibility that the move contravenes the EU rules on State aid.
Last month, Times of Malta reported that the government had temporarily leased land in Delimara to the private developers of the new gas-fired power station. This was done in order to expedite the preparatory works on site before an official sub-lease contract between Enemalta to the consortium was finalised.
The Energy Ministry – politically responsible for this project – had not made any public declaration over the transfer of this public land; however, when questioned it said “the premises had been temporarily granted to the consortium by title of commodatum, for a definite period”.
But it denied that the temporary transfer of public land could fall foul of the EU’s stringent State aid rules and insisted notification was not necessary.
The ministry said that the site used by Electrogas would be governed by an agreed site-lease agreement under which commercial rates would be imposed.
“The commodatum agreement is only a short-term facility which was provided to Electrogas for a very short period to enable certain tasks of the project to be carried out.”
The value of this facility is negligible and does not require notification
According to the ministry, “the value of this facility is negligible and does not require notification.”
However, EU experts who spoke to the newspaper insisted that the temporary lease of government property to the private sector still required proper notification.
An expert in EU competition law said: “In the past, the government was required to inform the Commission even when it granted funds for the building of a National Aquarium in Qawra.
“Since the power station project is much bigger, I really cannot understand how the Maltese government can state that this type of aid did not require any notification,” he said.
Though the €320 million contract between the government and Electrogas consortium was signed behind closed doors last May, the contract has not been published despite calls from the Opposition.
The government has said that all infor-mation will be made public at the appropriate time.