In replying to a parliamentary question of mine on the EU Cohesion Funds that went into the financing of the Sant’Antnin project, the Minister for Resources stated that Malta was eligible to €16,747,500, 70 per cent of which represented the EU contribution. In saying so the minister tried to denigrate the fact that according to him I seemed to have overlooked the fact that €5,024,250 was to be our own local contribution to the project.

Without going once again into various questionable and suspect issues linked to the project, such as the rigged site selection process; a very limited perception survey among residents of less than 40 families, as well as the recent case where the minister was found by the courts to be in breach of the human rights of the members of the locality (which case is still pending appeal), I quote various statements by the minister to point out that if anybody got his figures wrong it was himself.

When the planning authority approved the waste plant upgrade, according to The Times (June 22, 2006), the minister said that more than €25 million of EU funds would be invested in the plant to produce compost and energy from waste.

In The Times of November 8, 2010, the government was quoted as having said that the new Sant’Antnin plant will cost €26 million, €19 million of which are from EU funds.

In a report dated November 26, 2010, we were informed once again that the upgrade would cost €27 million with the EU forking out some €16.7 million.

If proof was ever needed that the minister himself got his figures wrong kindly refer to his own regular blog in The Times of December 6, 2010 wherein he stated that “the public expressed their appreciation for the €27m investment, €18m of which came from EU funds”.

Way back the minister was quoted by The Times of February 10, 2008 that the upgrade of the plant involved an investment of €27 million; 70 per cent of which, equivalent to €16 million, would be covered by EU funds.

In a blog in The Times dated December 1, 2008, Minister Pullicino had said: “€27m are being invested in the upgrade of the Sant’ Antnin plant; 70 per cent of this sum being funded by the European Union while the remaining 30 per cent will come out of the Maltese government’s coffers.”

Any further comment would be superfluous.

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