The Opposition will insist that government places the storage facility for the new gas-fueled Delimara power station outside the port to ensure no risks are taken, Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said.

After all, he said, this was the view backed by experts and was the wish of the vast majority of residents of Birżebbuġa and Marsaxlokk who were worried about the safety of having liquified natural gas stored on a vessel berthed close to shore, just beneath the cliffs at Delimara.

“The people prefer the gas to be stored outside the port but the government is saying that having it within the port would mean spending less time and money.

Risks should not be taken when there is a clear solution

“We feel these are not good enough reasons. Such risks should not be taken when there is a clear solution,” Dr Busuttil said as he stood on the promenade near Pretty Bay.

Near him, Birżebbuġa local councillor Stanley Zammit, an engineer, pointed to where the new storage facility would be – 1.4 kilometres away from the shore.

Mr Zammit said that even though gas storage vessels usually had many safety features, there were still risks of human error or malfunctions – especially when taking into account that the vessel was a floating one and the sea could not be controlled.

Mr Zammit said that, in case of a leakage of the colourless and odourless gas, it would probably be detected by seeing a cloud formation, by which time it would be too late.

Asked if a PN government would relocate the storage facility to outside the port in future, Dr Busuttil said the Opposition was focusing on ensuring the current government placed it there in the first place.