To most of us, April 9, 2015, was just any other day with no particular significance. As a matter of fact, however, this was quite a remarkable day in Malta’s recent political history at least for two reasons.
On that day, the most beneficial project in Malta’s long energy history dating back to 1882, was inaugurated: the electricity interconnector from Malta to Marina di Ragusa in Sicily.
That was truly a red-letter day for Malta, Enemalta and for those who had vision and resoluteness to see it through notwithstanding the lows and highs.
The second reason why that was a uniquely remarkable day is because during the inauguration of the project, those present, including Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, witnessed a rare acknowledgement from Prime Minister Joseph Muscat towards a bold decision taken by his predecessor Lawrence Gonzi, who was also invited.
Referring to the interconnector project, Muscat said: “Gonzi had a choice to make. He made the right call. Credit goes to him.”
Reporting the event, the Times of Malta headlined it thus: ‘Gonzi got it right on interconnector.’ And so said all of us, after we came to know the latest figures from the National Statistics Office for the May-December 2015 period.
This very relevant data was reported in this paper (October 7) and I couldn’t resist the temptation of posting it on my Facebook page, using the Times of Malta online version with the heading: ‘Power station emissions down by 46.8 per cent last year thanks to the interconnector.’ The heading in the print edition was equally revealing: ‘Malta depended on electricity imported by interconnector in 2015.’
Let’s give a quick look at the main findings of the NSO about the interconnector.
For eight straight months last year (May-December) electricity imported over the interconnector surpassed that produced by our power stations. During this period, the interconnector provided 989,000 (63 per cent) megawatt-hours as against the 579,000 (37 per cent) megawatt-hours produced by the power stations. The shift to the interconnector led to a 47 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from power stations.
These results for eight months in 2015 contributed in no small way to sustain lower electricity tariffs, though they still are unreasonable, taking into account the considerably lower oil prices in the last three years.
One could also add another significant achievement with the advent of the interconnector. It was possible for the Marsa power station to be switched off in mid-February.
Even a cursory examination of these achievements gives the lie to the Labour mantra prior to the last election that the Nationalist government was devoid of any energy policy.
Everyone can realise that the interconnector and other decisions taken by the Gonzi government were spot-on and the Maltese are presently reaping the fruit of those bold decisions taken when the going, both economically and politically, was extremely tough as never before. It is surely a timely reminder of an old Maltese saying: Marzu jagħmel il-fjuri u April jieħu l-unuri, loosely translated as ‘March produces the flowers but April takes the honours’.
The EU was not an easy hurdle to overcome. But Lawrence Gonzi got it right, once more
The concept of an interconnector was originally hatched up in the early years of the new millennium when the then Nationalist government instructing the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) to study a detailed plan by which Malta would join an energy grid via Sicily so that we would have another source of energy which was be cleaner, cheaper and dependable.
With this report in hand, another Nationalist government led by Gonzi launched a three-pronged initiative with the three fronts being the Italian government, the European Union and Mepa.
The Italians were, by and large, very sympathetic (though a bit on the slow side to arrive at a definite decision) and so, one of the obstacles was surmounted.
As regards the EU, it was not an easy hurdle to overcome. But Gonzi got it right, once more. To appreciate how delicate and hard were the negotiations with EU regarding the interconnector, I will quote verbatim what The Cable Directory (the premier global website for the cable, wire and electrical industry) said in its newsletter of July 13, 2009 about the negotiations:
“The Malta-Sicily electricity grid interconnector project was given the final green light this week when EU ministers approved the nearly €4 billion energy package, funds allocated by the European Economic Recovery Plan and derived from the unspent position of the EU budget.
“The ministerial approval follows the Commission’s original proposal and approval from the European Parliament.
“The project, which is to be realised by way of submarine cable linking Malta to Sicily, had been given a €20 million budget by the European Commission while Malta will receive another €5 million as part of a small isolated island project.
“The project had been hard fought by Malta, after having been left out of the first wave of announced projects to have been funded, a state of affairs that was rectified later at Committee of Permanent Representation level.
“The hard-fought increase in Malta’s allocation came about following a direct intervention by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, and a series of meetings undertaken by Malta’s Permanent Representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana.
“Malta had fiercely objected to the Commission’s original proposals, which had all but snubbed the country’s dire need as a completely isolated member State in energy supply terms, to secure a supply through such a grid connection.
“Through the amendments to the Commission’s original proposals, Malta’s funding allocation has now trebled to €20 million.”
What happened after that decision is, supposedly, now known by all those who avidly follow the political scene. I would like to point out that the Nationalist Party continued to pursue the project from all angles until its last day in government.
Furthermore, the PN electoral programme confirmed its endeavour to provide clean, cheaper and safe energy by ensuring that the interconnector would have been up and running by the end of 2014.
In Opposition, the PN never lost sight of this project and continued to monitor the energy sector. Another proof of this vision was given only a few weeks ago when the Opposition (through Mario de Marco, Claudio Grech, Paula Mifsud Bonnici and myself) presented its pre-Budget document for 2017, entitled ‘Let’s All Succeed Together’.
In our document, we reviewed the main aspects of Malta’s political, social, financial and economic areas and gave our input with background material and proposals – a very professional publication indeed. Due importance was given to the energy sector, of which I want to underline a particularly serious point made.
The document (page 43) insists that Malta “will not be able to make full use of the Malta-Sicily interconnector’s capacity due to its contractual obligations with Electrogas. In the first semester of 2016, the interconnector provided 72 per cent of the country’s needs, however, questions on whether the investment on the interconnector is yielding the originally-planned added value, will definitely lead to unclear answers due to the nature of the agreement government entered into with Electrogas.”
No doubt there are developments we will continue to delve into.
But for the time being it is high time we, as a people, demonstrate our genuine appreciation for all those who had the vision – and the determination to realise that vision – out of which we are now reaping such rich dividends.
Kristy Debono is Opposition spokeswoman for financial services, IT and gaming.