The heavy traffic across the island is “the real cancer factory” rather than the BWSC power plant, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday.
“The poisonous fumes people are inhaling when they are stuck in traffic bumper-to-bumper are putting lives at risk, not the power station,” Dr Busuttil said during an interview on the Nationalist Party’s radio.
The Labour Party had branded the BWSC a cancer factory in the run-up to the last general election.
Still, Dr Busuttil noted yesterday, this government was using the plant.
The Opposition was reasonable and would not be taking issue with the traffic situation had the problem remained the same (as under the previous administration), he said.
Congestion, however, had increased drastically over the past few months, contradicting the government’s electoral pledge to address it.
Earlier this month, a Transport Malta spokeswoman said the popular belief that traffic was on the rise was largely a perception. The comments sparked a barrage of public disapproval, even prompting a series of social media memes.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat jokingly reacted saying: “If traffic is just a perception, then I must get stuck in a lot of perceptions.”
Dr Busuttil dedicated the bulk of the interview to the country’s energy plans, saying the government was now trapped by its own lies. “This government is built on lies: the lie that it could build a power station in two years and that a resignation would follow if it did not. And, now, these lies are catching up with the government,” he said.
Parliament is due to debate the energy plan today. Dr Busuttil urged Dr Muscat to broadcast the debate, insisting the people deserved to know what was going on.
He also called for the publication of the contract signed between the government and the Electrogas consortium for the supply of a new LNG plant at Delimara.
Last May, Dr Muscat said there was no secrecy surrounding the contract and it would be published “soon”. But details on the agreement are yet to be released and Dr Busuttil is insisting this does not tally with Labour’s electoral pledge of transparency.
“If Dr Muscat sticks to lying, he will find us exposing him every step of the way,” he said.
The Labour Party said Dr Busuttil was out of his depth on energy and had not made any suggestions.