The Office of the Prime Minister would not give a date when the new gas-fired power station in Delimara will come on stream.
As sources close to the project indicated the facility was still “far from complete”, noting that “important parts, such as the regasification terminal, are still being built”, questions sent to Castille remained unanswered at the time of writing. Two deadlines have already been missed.
The Office of the Prime Minister was asked repeatedly about the state of play of the project and when was the new power plant expected to start generating electricity on a commercial basis.
It was also asked when was the LNG floating storage unit, a 30-year-old tanker that will be moored permanently in Delimara to supply the new power plant with fuel, expected to arrive.
The Prime Minister is now politically responsible for energy after Konrad Mizzi was stripped of his health and energy portfolios in last April’s reshuffle.
This does not mean the floating storage unit will start pumping fuel the moment she enters Marsaxlokk
The Times of Malta is informed that the tanker, to be known as Armada LNG Mediterrana, is still in a Singapore shipyard undergoing conversion. Sources said works on the vessel were at an advanced stage and the voyage to Malta was expected to start soon.
“This does not mean the floating storage unit will start pumping fuel the moment she enters Marsaxlokk,” an engineer at the new power plant said. “A lot of more work would be needed, including testing and commissioning to make sure there are no risks related to the transfer of LNG to the regasification unit,” he said.
Originally, the new power plant in Delimara, one of Labour’s main electoral pledges, had to be delivered by March 2015. However, the project was delayed significantly as Electrogas did not manage to secure the necessary financing on its own steam.
In December of 2014, just a few days after this newspaper reported that the government had to step in to issue a State guarantee for a Bank of Valletta loan to Electrogas, both the Prime Minster and Dr Mizzi admitted the project would not be delivered on the date promised.
[attach id=521068 size="medium"]Originally, the new power plant in Delimara, one of Labour’s main electoral pledges, was supposed to be delivered by March of last year.[/attach]
Dr Mizzi said in Parliament there would be a 15-month delay, and energy generation on a commercial basis would commence by June 2016. The second deadline was also missed.
When Prime Minister Joseph Muscat assumed responsibility for energy, he had said he would be briefed on the project so he would announce a new deadline.
But no new completion date has been given so far.
Dr Mizzi, who remained in Cabinet after the reshuffle but as a minister without a portfolio, was tasked with handling the energy project.
Two weeks ago, Dr Mizzi said that work on the Delimara power plant was in its final phase and that the floating storage unit would be completed “in the coming weeks”.