Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday defended plans to berth a gas storage vessel in Marsaxlokk, saying the plan had the green light by EU experts and would eventually be replaced by a gas pipeline.
“They’re making all this fuss about the storage tanks. Despite the instigation and scaremongering, the people of Marsaxlokk and neighbouring localities will not believe them [the Opposition] as they weren’t believed a year ago,” he said.
He said that, once the government secured funds for the project, it would replace the gas storage tanker with a pipeline, not necessarily linking Malta to Europe but even to a country to the south of Malta.
Those who voted for Labour a year ago had chosen a new path for the country
Last week, the Occupational Health and Safety Authority approved the project from a risk point of view, saying that studies found there was no significant risk with the LNG storage facilities being adjacent to the new power plant.
It published a study by Greek expert George Papadakis concluding that safety risks from a gas storage tanker were within acceptable levels and procedures could minimise the possibility of an accident.
The environment impact assessment carried out for Mepa also clears the project. However, according to the study, all three in-port options presented by the government pose a risk if a gas cloud escaped the storage facility, due to its proximity to the plant.
The risk factor was also of concern to international expert Hans Pasman who told The Sunday Times of Malta yesterday that a gas leak, although remote, would be “disastrous”.
But Dr Muscat poured cold water on these opinions, saying yesterday that the government’s plans had received the green light from an expert who prepares guidelines for the EU. He was addressing a sizeable crowd who gathered in the rain for a larger-than-usual weekly political activity to mark the first anniversary of Labour’s historic landslide victory at the polls.
He reflected on the first year of work undertaken by his government and the various measures it introduced, saying the main characteristic of his administration’s first year was the energy it had instilled.
Dr Muscat said those who voted for Labour a year ago had chosen a new path for the country.
He listed the decisions taken by his government, adding that what was not done in the 25 years of the previous administration happened in less than 12 months under Labour.
Dr Muscat said the government had found documents proving that the previous administration was planning to introduce a tax on waste production by households.
On the nomination of the President, Dr Muscat said the former government had repeatedly failed to nominate a woman. It was an honour for him to be the first Labour prime minister in 32 years to nominate a female president after Dom Mintoff had chosen Agatha Barbara in 1982. He hoped that, on April 4, President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca would be greeted by all Maltese as a person who would continue to unite the country.