Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who has now taken over political responsibility for the building of the new LNG power plant in Delimara, does not want to commit himself to another completion deadline for the new gas-fired power plant.
Asked repeatedly by this newspaper to explain the latest state of play on the ongoing project and to say when the power plant is expected to deliver its first commercial supply of energy to Enemalta, Dr Muscat did not reply.
The government has already missed two deadlines for the controversial project.
According to plans drawn up before the election, the new power plant was to be up and running by March 2015.
However, although both the Prime Minster and his then Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi kept repeating that all was on track, in December 2014 they admitted that the project had fallen behind substantially.
Addressing Parliament at the end of 2014, Dr Mizzi had said the new power station would be producing commercial electricity not later than June 2016. The latest target date is now also set to be missed as the LNG tanker which will act as a permanent storage facility for the project in Delimara is still held at a Singapore shipyard.
Also, the engineering side of the project is slightly delayed, making Dr Mizzi’s commitment for a June delivery impossible to achieve. Asked to give a month by which the government is aiming to reach its third deadline, the Office of the Prime Minister did not reply. The government is stating that the power plant should be working “in the summer months”.
Following last month’s mini-reshuffle, Dr Muscat took away Dr Mizzi’s portfolio, assigning the health sector to Minister Chris Fearne while keeping energy under his wing. However, Dr Muscat still kept Dr Mizzi in his cabinet even though without a portfolio.
Describing Dr Mizzi as a minister “who delivers”, he said that his first assignment would be to act as project manager for the new power plant. The LNG-fired €360 million investment is being made by Electrogas – a private consortium formed by Maltese, German and Azeri interests.
The Tumas and Gasan groups are the main Maltese shareholders together with the owner of a pharmaceutical company, Paul Apap Bologna.
In an unprecedented move, the government gave the private consortium a €360 million state guarantee so that they could raise the necessary loans from banks.
Electrogas have been guaranteed an 18-year contract to supply energy to Enemalta.
The contract has not been published.