State electricity company Enemalta spent more than €66,000 to convene a board meeting in China last year, official records show.

An 11-member delegation attended the meeting in Shanghai, including Minister Without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi, who at the time was responsible for health and energy, and former Enemalta chairman, Labour MP Charles Mangion.

Four Maltese government representatives sit on the board.

When the Times of Malta reported in April about the board meeting in China, Enemalta refused to give details on the costs. It only said that, after Shanghai Electric bought a 33 per cent stake in Enemalta, it had decided that one board meeting a year would be held in China.

The company confirmed that although Dr Mizzi was not a board member, he had attended the meeting “to represent the shareholders”.

Following a request by this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, the Office of the Prime Minister, which is now politically responsible for Enemalta, furnished details of the expenses involved.

The week-long stay cost Enemalta €66,327.

An 11-member delegation attended the meeting in Shanghai, including Minister Without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi

The delegation included CEO Fredrick Azzopardi, Kevin Chircop, former Labour MP Salvu Sant and Steve Agius, the four board members representing the government, and four technical advisers who were sent “to assist” the board.

Apart from Dr Mizzi and Dr Mangion, board secretary Aaron Mifsud Bonnici also travelled to China.

An average of €4,600 was spent to buy flight tickets for each member of the delegation, who were given more than €1,000 each as subsistence allowance.

Dr Mizzi, according to government policy, is not entitled to a subsistence allowance but was given a sum of €600 as “contingency money”, the information supplied by the Office of the Prime Minister shows.

Asked how long the members of the delegation were in China in connection with the board meeting, the government said they had spent an average of seven nights.

On a private basis, Dr Mifsud Bonnici had remained there for a further seven nights. He was only paid a subsistence allowance for four nights.

Enemalta, which is still in the red, is undergoing a restructuring exercise aimed at cutting costs and returning to the black.

About 600 employees have already been struck off its wage bill and were transferred to a newly set up government entity, Engineering Resources Ltd, paid through public funds.

Most of the Engineering Resources employees have been given maintenance jobs at various government departments including Mater Dei Hospital, the Education Division and the presidential palaces.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com

Delimara: from ‘summer’ to ‘soon’

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat would not set a new deadline for the completion of thenew gas-fired power station in Delimara.

“Soon” was all Dr Muscat said during a press conference yesterday. “Soon there will be not only a deadline but a big event.”

The power plant, one of the Labour Party’s main electoral pledges, was originally intended to be completed by March 2015. This target date was later pushed to June 2016, but the second deadline was also missed.

When the Prime Minister assumed responsibility for the energy portfolio after a reshuffle in April, he said he would be briefed on the project and announce a new deadline. Yet the only indication of a deadline to date was given by former health and energy minister Konrad Mizzi, who said in May the power plant would be operational by “summer”.

Dr Mizzi is now Minister Without Portfolio, though still involved in government projects in the energy sector.

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