Labour MP Alfred Sant said the Enemalta report showed unmistakably the gross failure of the government and the incompetence of the corporation, and yet it was the people who were going to pay for both. Over the past few years Enemalta's incompetence had been swept under the carpet of international oil prices.

The crisis had long been coming. Twelve years ago the Labour administration had laid bare what was happening and where it would lead to. The inefficiency was mind-boggling, for a number of reasons, including managerial.

Even at that time Enemalta had been making heavy losses and was in no position to plan for the future. In the long-term perspective oil prices would be escalating substantially.

Under Labour, the process of renovation had been started with the Water Services Corporation. In 1999 the Nationalist administration had still raised tariffs, but had technically failed to achieve what the increased revenue had been expected to do.

Dr Sant said it was obvious that the Nationalists had learnt nothing from what Labour had gone through. The Marsa facilities had continued to get older while Delimara was not delivering as expected, and the demand for energy had continued to grow even more than expected. Oil prices had continued to escalate, and environmental demands had continued to grow. As part of its accession to the EU, Malta had accepted great commitments without really knowing what it was letting itself in for.

No real effort had been made to harness all energy sectors for the realisation of the required investment and progress.

Enemalta had continued to wallow in dubious nominations to the board at the beck and call of the government. Higher management had no real strength. Mr Spiteri Gingell had had to resign without seeing in the improvements he had been expected to.

Dr Sant said it was good that Enemalta was blessed with technical staff of a high calibre, especially in view of what had happened with the power failure throughout most of the day.

In the past years, Malta's competitiveness vis-à-vis other EU countries had gone haywire, and this had nothing to do with international oil prices.

It all boiled down to established incompetence with a gross lack of accountability going back years.

The government had no answer for long-term projects needing planned, huge investments. Gonzipn had failed in the face of long-term investments such as SmartCity, the MIDI project in Tigné and Manoel Island, and Chambray in Gozo. Dr Sant said he himself had asked for information on all three projects weeks ago, and every time this information of national interest kept being promised in subsequent sittings. He had just been answered about SmartCity, but the answer was not really satisfactory.

The government was very good at planning mega-projects in the clouds, but nothing came out of them along the same lines in practice.

Delimara power station was a good picture of Enemalta's incompetence. More than 20 years ago it had been bandied as the successor of the Marsa power station. But in 2005 Marsa had produced 14 per cent more than Delimara, and in 2007 27 per cent more. Such statistics led to conclude that the whole process of Delimara was delivering only systemic inefficiencies.

Dr Sant said the main difficulties today were the fruit of lack of decisions or the wrong decisions. The minister in charge of Enemalta last year had presented the corporation's financial estimates, and the major question had been how much of the dearth of fuel oil would be passed on to the consumer.

The minister had said that reduction of the surcharge was impossible because oil prices were expected to keep rising. He had said it would be futile to believe that prices would be going down, indeed the question should be how high they would go. This had been the epitome of incompetence, arrogance and irresponsibility from the top down, accompanied by coercion to make the people shoulder the price of inefficiency.

When the tariffs were raised the price of oil had gone down some 47 per cent year-on-year. It had been obvious from mid-2007 that the high prices of oil were unsustainable.

Dr Sant said it was obvious that the government could not come up with a plan for energy from the power station or for alternative energy. Words came easily, but things continued to go undone.

On alternative energy the government had first said windfarms would not work, then they would be offshore even though previously not feasible, then they would be on land. Then the projects would be subject to Mepa analysis. The government was obviously turning with every wind.

Malta had the lowest rate of use of solar panels in Europe, but everybody knew of the problems with solar panels, including price. Then it had been said that Malta would be connected to the European grid, and the EU would pay part of the costs. Then it had been said that the costs would be too high, after which the prospect was dangled that gas would be imported from Sicily for the new power station.

Nobody knew where Malta was going, Dr Sant said. And all the time the forced closure of the Marsa power station was hanging over the country's head like the sword of Damocles.

Even in the process leading to the new extension to Delimara, Enemalta had fallen badly behind schedule. Four companies had tendered, and the decision had been promised for the end of last summer. In effect it had been taken only last April, and at a cost that was far in excess of what had been planned.

Concluding, Dr Sant said there was no excuse for what had happened over the years, except political short-sightedness (meskinità politika). Malta needed an integrated plan built on various avenues of energy generation, on a precise technical and social calendar.

The rest of the debate will be published tomorrow.