The Delimara gas-fired power station could start generating electricity by February – two years past the government’s promised deadline – if the environment authority gives the green light on Monday.

ERA will next week decide whether to grant an Integrated Prevention and Pollution Control permit for the new power station. Its operators Electrogas told this newspaper on Wednesday that the first LNG cargo could arrive by mid-January if the environmental permit were granted.

Asked for an indication of how long it would take from the delivery of the cargo to the actual start of operations, project manager Catherine Halpin said: “It depends on a lot of factors but, all being well, after about four weeks or so we should be operational”.

In the run-up to the last general election, Labour had promised that the power station would be completed by March 2015.

Former energy minister Konrad Mizzi had admitted there would be a delay, and he set a new deadline for June 2016, followed by a third deadline for “the end of summer”.

ERA’s decision on Monday follows a 40-day public consultation process, which the Nationalist Party yesterday slammed.

During a press conference, PN president Ann Fenech said she had written to ERA chairman Victor Axiak, asking for a meeting so the party could voice its concerns about the project. However, she had been told that the PN could raise such questions during Monday’s public meeting.

“How can board members assess our concerns, investigate the technical questions we are raising, and reach a decision during the same board meeting,” she asked.

Meanwhile Nationalist MP Ryan Callus pointed out that Electrogas’s comments to the Times of Malta showed that the operation of the gas tanker and power station were a fait accompli and that the public consultation process was a farce.

“On Monday, we will learn whether the ERA is truly a strong authority… or whether it is sleeping with the government,” he said.