The Marsa Power Station is to be closed once and for all following the removal of cable feeders today, the government said.

It said in a statement the power plant was no longer necessary and plants five, six, seven and eight were to be removed from the country’s electricity grid for the complete dismantling of the plant.

This was possible because Enemalta had started to receive gas generated electricity from the new Delimara plants so Marsa did not need to be on cold standby, it said.

The little oil that was left in its tanks was also to be removed for these to also be dismantled.

This, the government said, would mean cleaner air for the residents of the area, especially those of Paola, Marsa, Fgura, Ħamrun and Valletta who frequently had to endure black dust on their roofs and had the air polluted with heavy fuel oil emissions.

Minister Konrad Mizzi this would not have been possible had the new gas-operated power station not been built and had the investment with Shanghai Electric Power not been undertaken to convert the BWSC to gas.

Enemalta, he said, was also developing a new distribution centre in part of the Marsa power station site. This was to be one of the most important centres in Malta to improve the service given by Enemalta, he said.