Installing smart meters at illegal boathouses that never had one was not condoning the usurpation of public land but addressing electricity theft, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is insisting.

The government came under fire after Times of Malta revealed in August that Enemalta was installing smart meters in the Armier boathouses, including those that never had an electricity supply.

But Dr Muscat yesterday said the government wanted to tackle the rampant theft of electricity in the illegal shanty town irrespective of what long-term solution was found to address the issue of land use.

“Boathouse owners will enter into an agreed programme with Enemalta but the proviso is clear – this has nothing to do with the legal issues concerning land titles,” he said, when asked whether those who stole electricity would be fined.

Dr Muscat said the drive to install smart meters was part of Enemalta’s wider effort to cut down on electricity theft. He said the utility company had cut losses by €20 million this year, partly because of this drive.

“I find it unacceptable that people steal electricity and one of the outstanding issues was these boathouse villages. Rather than waiting for years to solve the boathouse problem before tackling electricity theft, we decided to act now,” he insisted.

Unofficial estimates indicate that only a quarter of the 800 Armier boathouses have an electricity meter.

Everybody knows that boathouse owners who are denied a meter steal electricity from the public grid

Dr Muscat said everybody knew boathouse owners who were denied a meter were stealing electricity from the public grid. “Even boathouse owners admit they are forced to steal because we [successive governments] stopped supplying them with meters,” he added.

The boathouses were built illegally on public land over a span of decades.

After a failed attempt to clear the area in the mid-1990s both major political parties repeatedly entered into agreements with boathouse owners to regularise their situation.

A plan submitted by the previous administration would have seen the illegal village replaced by beach rooms, giving current tenants a right of first refusal. However, the scheme never materialised.

This government is committed to regularise the illegal state of the shanty town and has been holding talks with boathouse representatives.

There is no clear direction yet as to whether the government wants to replace the boathouses or retain the village as it is.

It is understood that the talks also concern some form of compensation boathouse owners will be expected to pay for occupying public land illegally.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com