A Nationalist government would immediately begin work to remove the LNG tanker in Marsaxlokk and replace it with a gas pipeline linking Malta to Sicily, Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.

Speaking at a press conference in Attard, Dr Busuttil vowed to reduce petrol and diesel prices by 5c with immediate effect if elected and pledged to keep prices below the EU average for five years. Local fuel prices have regularly ranked among the EU's highest over the past years.

Dr Busuttil used the press conference to unveil his party’s energy sector proposals.

The PN would buy electricity from the cheapest source, which at the moment was the undersea interconnector.

It would also offer people more grants to invest in renewable energy sources and ensure more solar panels were installed on the top of public buildings, Dr Busuttil said, with other incentives encouraging people to develop green roofs.

The PN leader said his administration would address the fact that Malta is the only EU state not reaching climate change and greenhouse effect targets and cut carbon emissions in all sectors.

Consumer solar rights would be protected and ensure those whose solar panel investments were rendered obsolete by the creeping shadows of neighbouring buildings were conmpensated.

A PN government would also look into the feasibility of developing solar roads – a cutting-edge technology which involves installing solar panels on road surfaces, he said.