Update 4.20pm - Government lists its energy achievements
The government should stop hold a frank debate on the country’s energy deal with Chinese firm Shanghai Electric without further delay, the Opposition said today.
Addressing a press conference, shadow energy minister Marthese Portelli said the Nationalist Party had requested a debate on the deal in Parliament several months ago and repeatedly called on the government to publish the contracts signed.
The government was, however, “avoiding” the matter fuelling speculation and doubts over its negotiations with the Chinese State energy provider.
Earlier this month the Times of Malta reported that Enemalta was paying an undisclosed sum of money, possibly running into tens of thousands of euros a day, to Shanghai Electric to use the BWSC plant in Delimara.
The government sold the plant to Shanghai Electric for €100 million in December 2014. Dr Portelli said this, along with other reports about the way the government had negotiated the deal, should be explained to the public.
“This contract was signed some 18 months ago, and yet we are all still in the dark. If there is nothing to hide then we should get it all out into the open,” she said.
Shadow economy minister Claudio Grech said the energy deal would affect not just this legislature but many more to come.
Insisting he did not want this to turn into a partisan matter, Mr Grech said the energy deal could be discussed in a parliamentary committee with the participation of experts who could explain the mechanics of the contracts signed.
“I am not commenting on whether this deal was good or bad, I think we should rather be looking at how and why these deals were made for the best interest of the country,” he said.
Apart from buying 90 per cent of the BWSC plant, Shanghai Electric also entered into a commitment to invest a further €70 million to convert the eight diesel turbines to work on LNG.
However, since the gas project has now been delayed and work has just started on the conversion of the first four turbines, Enemalta was ‘renting’ out the other four generating electricity through the use of heavy fuel oil.
Dr Grech said the way this had been agreed, and the real prices paid, should be made public immediately.
'Stop trying to hide your own failings' - Government replies
The Office of the Prime Minister responded with a statement listing the problems it had found in the energy sector when it assumed office in 2013.
These included an Enemalta that was "on the brink of bankruptcy", an operational power station at Marsa, the use of heavy fuel oil, debts that reached €840 million, credit agency downgrades and millions of euro in unpaid excise duty.
It argued that the current administration had managed to reduce tariffs by 25 per cent, bring carbon emissions down by approximately one million tonnes, attract a €320 million investment in Enemalta, close Marsa power station and reach interim renewable energy targets, among other things.
Shanghai Electric's investment, the government said, had transformed Enemalta into a profitable firm.
"The Opposition is trying to confuse the facts with the aim of hiding its shortcomings over its 25 year administration," the OPM statement argued.