Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi will have an office at Delimara power station to ensure the promised gas infrastructure is delivered on time.
Dr Mizzi yesterday said the ministry was finalising the structure of a dedicated team that will drive the project, a central plank of the Labour Party’s manifesto.
“To demonstrate my commitment to the project I will have an office at Delimara power station. This will ensure a hands-on approach because we need to deliver this project,” Dr Mizzi said.
The Government wants to shift from oil to gas for energy generation and to do so it has to construct the infrastructure to handle liquefied natural gas.
The plan also sees the construction of a 200MW gas-fired power plant to run alongside the recently inaugurated Delimara power station extension, which will be converted to run on gas.
Dr Mizzi said the project team will consist of experts in the commercial, financial, engineering and environmental permitting fields, including Enemalta officials and external experts.
“I spoke at length with executive chairman Louis Giordimaina and he will be a critical part of the implementation process. I will be working very closely with Louis to get this delivered,” Dr Mizzi said.
He explained that the process started with workshops to produce a detailed plan on “key deliverables” over the next few months.
An expression of interest will be issued in April and the Government wants to close the process by the end of summer. The electoral pledge was to start lowering household utility tariffs by an average of 25 per cent in March next year.
Dr Mizzi acknowledged the ambitious timeframe but insisted he had a dedicated team that was working very hard.
Without giving details, he noted that the Government had received renewed interest in the project from the private sector.
Dr Mizzi was speaking to The Times after addressing a seminar on renewable energy organised by the University of Malta’s Institute for Sustainable Energy.
In a brief address at the start of the seminar, Dr Mizzi said the first decision taken by his ministry was to absorb the policy-making function of the Malta Resources Authority.
After talks with the authority’s chief executive, he said it was clear that the previous administration had burdened the MRA with policy making.
“After consultation with the MRA from the beginning of April the energy and water policy-making functions will form part of the ministry and in this way the authority could focus on being a regulator,” Dr Mizzi said.
He explained that on taking up his appointment, he met the CEOs of various entities that fell under his portfolio to assess the stages of pending projects.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com