It is somewhat strange that as the government is presenting the Budget for 2015 it is at the same time unable to announce the new target date for the building of a new power station, an important part of what is by far one of the biggest projects for next year.

When it was first announced, the impression given was that the deal with all the interested parties was in the bag. It appears, however, that it was not, not in its entirety anyway. Everything seems to be hinging on the deal with the Chinese company. There is no indication that it will not go through but the finance minister seemed to ramble when he was repeatedly questioned about the project in an interview with The Sunday Times of Malta.

The Chinese company, Shanghai Electric, is insisting that – when it purchases the BWSC plant – Enemalta buys any electricity it generates. But apparently this runs against the original plan. Besides the conversion of the BWSC plant to gas, the overall project involves the building of a gas-fired power station by a consortium, Electrogas, and the laying of an interconnector to Sicily to link up the island with the continental power grid.

When, after repeated declarations that the project was firmly on track, the government finally admitted – only after much speculation – that the project had, in fact, been delayed, it said a new date will be set when talks between the three interested parties were concluded by the end of this month. However, the Prime Minister has also gone on record saying that the project will not be delayed by more than a couple of months. Therefore, since the plant had to be built by March next year, it should now be ready by May... or June.

The problem for the government is that the project was supposed to finance the energy tariff cuts it committed itself to make in its electoral programme. It has already reduced the tariffs for households and, despite the hiccup in the talks with the Chinese company, it said it will go ahead and also reduce tariffs for industry as originally planned.

But how, in the meantime, is it going to finance the tariff cuts? In his interview, the finance minister pinned his hopes on the assumption that the deal goes through so that, with the money the Chinese company plans to invest, Enemalta will be able to pay to the government the €150 million it owes in excise duty on fuel.

In answer to the question over how the government will make up for the €50 million once tariffs for business go down in March, the minister said: “There is a plan. Yes, it has been delayed – fine – but it is still there and it is still realisable.” In the words of the minister, the government is bringing “the benefits forward by one year, so that industry can breathe a little bit easier and becomes more competitive”. He argues the government has every right to do so.

Indeed, it has. But the government is still in a quandary. What will it do if the project is delayed by more than it bargained for? Of course, said the minister, “everyone is ­interested in seeing the deal go through”.

The problem is that on several issues – and this one in particular – the government has not been transparent enough. Nor has the Prime Minister been accountable given his ‘resignation’ offer if this project was not completed on time.