On page 50 of the Labour Party’s 2013 electoral programme, the commitment to invest in cleaner energy is – among other initiatives – translated into building a gas-fired power station through a public-private partnership. The gas-fired power station would carry various benefits, including moving away from the use of heavy fuel oil, a cleaner environment and cheaper energy bills.
The deadline for the completion of the gas-fired power station in Delimara was set for March 2015, two years from the general election. The first hint that this deadline would be missed came in December 2014 when then energy minister Konrad Mizzi said in Parliament that electricity from the Delimara power station would begin flowing to homes in June 2016.
On March 9, 2015, a formal ceremony was held to mark the switching off of the Marsa power station, after more than six decades. But while the old electricity-generation facility was decommissioned, the new one in Delimara did not come on stream.
On February 10 of this year, Dr Mizzi said in reply to a comment by Alternattiva Demokratika leader Arnold Cassola, that energy from the gas-fired power station will start being generated in the summer. “As from this summer, clean energy from gas will be generated in Delimara,” Dr Mizzi said.
Admittedly, that is not the most specific of deadlines, given that summer lasts three months but Dr Mizzi also said that construction of the plant would be completed ahead of schedule in May. A few days later, on February 15, the minister said the commitment that the new gas-fired power station would start producing energy “during the summer” did not necessarily mean June.
When asked by this newspaper why the second deadline, announced in Parliament in December 2014, would be missed, Dr Mizzi replied: “What we said is that construction will be ready by June. Then there is the commissioning and testing.”
On May 1, The Sunday Times of Malta reported that the main reason for missing the second deadline is a delay in the conversion of the LNG tanker, which will be used as a permanent floating storage unit for the project. This was due to the fact that the tanker, undergoing a major conversion job in Singapore, was found to have a substantial amount of asbestos.
Following the Cabinet reshuffle of April 28, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat took over the energy portfolio from Dr Mizzi. A few days later, Dr Muscat said he was waiting for a detailed brief on the Delimara power station before announcing new timelines. He told this newspaper: “We will be announcing the time frames in the coming days but what is certain is that the shift to gas will happen.”
Admittedly, the Labour Party’s pre-election commitment, that it was possible to build the new gas-fired plant within two years, was innocently – and unrealistically – ambitious. To be fair, the government did deliver on its pledge to reduce electricity tariffs, though certainly not thanks to its new power plant.
However, the government cannot continue flagging this rates cut in an attempt to deviate public attention from the constant shifting of the deadlines. When announcing the latest Cabinet reshuffle, the Prime Minister said he would be keeping Dr Mizzi as minister without portfolio, tasked with finishing the Delimara power station – ironically his most pressing task when he was energy minister – because he is a “very good project manager”. Usually, project managers– especially the “very good” ones – stick to deadlines and deliver.