Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said the Birżebbuġia plant would shut. Photo: Jason BorgEnergy Minister Konrad Mizzi told Parliament yesterday that the petroleum plant in Birżebbuġa would eventually be closed and the tanks relocated.
The Enemalta petroleum divison did not form part of the agreement with Shangai Electric and a new entity would take over this plant, which was making a profit.
Winding up a two-sitting debate on the Enemalta financial estimates, Dr Mizzi said the fuel dolphin had been removed from Marsaxlokk because of new investment in the petroleum division, which had negotiated a hedging agreement leading to stability in fuel.
The price for diesel had gone down to the lowest it had been in 15 months and petrol prices had stabilised when in the Europe they were still on the rise.
He reiterated that the Marsa and the old Delimara power stations would be closed down by next year and regeneration plans for the Marsa area would be implemented.
The Energy Minister also spoke on Enemalta’s credit rating and its financial situation. He said that from “a drydocks in the making it had been turned into a corporation with a strong balance sheet”. The former government had planned to increase utility tariffs by 30 per cent, further reducing Malta’s economic potential.
Dr Mizzi denied the corporation had a deficit. The government had inherited a corporation with €800 million in debts but in one year it had given it an investment injection worth €1 billion from ElectroGas, Shanghai Electric and the interconnector. Shanghai Electric would give Enemalta a €320 million injection by the end of this year.
International credit agencies, including Standard and Poor’s, had changed Enemalta’s negative rating into a stable one. Some of these credit agencies had also been shown the balance sheet as it would likely appear in 2015. Government guarantees for Enemalta would be reduced by 33 per cent, this figure representing the private shareholding in the corporation.
The government did not believe in monopolising the energy sector, choosing ElectroGas, Shanghai Electric and Siemens as its partners.
Clean energy targets would be reached with the government implementing a programme to shift the focus from wind to solar energy.
Dr Mizzi also referred to criticism by the Opposition on the future of Enemalta workers. He said they had no future under a PN government as it intended to close down the corporation when the interconnector project was fully implemented.
On the contrary, these workers now had their jobs guaranteed and they would only be seconded with Shanghai Electric, giving them the option of working abroad.
While accusing Energy Shadow Minister George Pullicino of being too negative, Dr Mizzi said that the €30 million in electricity theft had taken place under a Nationalist watch. It was shameful that the PN government had not taken action on 600 cases of electricity theft but had hidden these files in an abandoned room at Enemalta.
Concluding, Dr Mizzi said the Labour government had turned Enemalta into a success story and the corporation was investing to become a regional player in the sector.
Earlier Mr Pullicino said that through the agreement reached with the Chinese government, the Maltese government would end up a minority stakeholder in the production of energy in Malta.
He said the corporation would no longer be able to take decisions in the interests of Maltese consumers but in the interests of the private sector and the Chinese government.
Mr Pullicino criticised the government for not tabling the agreement, which he said was the result of Joseph Muscat’s visit to China when he was still Leader of the Opposition. Was the government considering selling other shares in Enemalta?
The government had informed employees that they would only be required to perform day duties, losing shift allowances. In certain cases, such a loss could amount to €10,000.
Mr Pullicino said the government was investing in a project to purchase energy for €9.6 per unit when it could buy it through the interconnector for a third of the price.
When would studies, such as the risk impact assessment, be concluded? How would the government ensure that ElectroGas purchased energy through the gas pipeline if such energy were cheaper?
Why was the government hiding the contract? Did it have several conditions? Did it have several exit clauses? What happened to the €30 million upfront money that the government should have earned upon the concession agreement?
He hoped that, at least, Dr Mizzi would keep his promise to build the power station by March 2015.
Mr Pullicino said Enemalta was saving €1 million every week through the BWSC plant. While the PL criticised the PN government for operating a ‘cancer factory’, it now requested Mepa to keep operating the plant by heavy fuel oil instead of diesel.
Turning to ARMS Ltd, Mr Pullicino asked whether the money collected during the first quarter this year was less than the amount collected during the first three months of 2013.
Concluding, Mr Pullicino invited Dr Mizzi to lay on the table of the House all documentation that passed between Enemalta and the Malta Resources Authority. This would reveal whether it was true that the minister had given orders to the authority to expect profits from the corporation only after 2019.
Labour MPs Silvio Parnis, Deo Debattista, Etienne Grech and Silvio Schembri also contributed to the debate. The corporation’s financial estimates were approved by 36 votes to 28 against after a division.
Minister reveals schools plan
Education Minister Evarist Bartolo told Parliament yesterday the government was planning to build a secondary school for students from the Rabat area and Ta’ Qali was among the sites earmarked.
Answering a series of questions by Mario de Marco (PN), Mr Bartolo said talks towards this end were being held with the government’s property division.
The government also planned to build a number of primary schools in localities in Malta to substitute those more than 70 years old, albeit they could not be built on the same sites because the old ones were listed. Most of the present schools were no longer suited for teaching children between three and five years old.
Mr Bartolo said that during the next four years, schools would be built in St Paul’s Bay, Marsascala and Mosta and possibly Żabbar u Birkirkara.
A medium-sized school would be built in the Kirkop complex while refurbishment was under way in the secondary schools of Tarxien and Rabat.