The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Louis Galea, this evening upheld a request by Opposition leader Joseph Muscat for an immediate debate on the power station extension.

Dr Muscat requested the suspension of the agenda of the House for an immediate debate on a definite matter of urgent and national importance since Mepa would be considering the application for an extension of the power station tomorrow.

Dr Muscat said he had called on Mepa and the Prime Minister to call off the Mepa meeting until the Auditor-General reported on his investigation into the contract awarded for the power station extension. However there had been no reaction to his calls.

This matter, Dr Muscat said, was an issue of national importance since this was a $110 million project which would have a profound impact on the country's economy, the environment and the people.

The Mepa discussion would necessarily also involve the technology to be used for the power station extension and this could therefore prejudice the inquiry of the Auditor-General, an official appointed by Parliament.

Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said the Mepa considerations would not involve the technology to be used in the power station extension since that had already been selected and decided. Mepa could only discuss the impact of that technology on the environment and decide accordingly.

Furthermore, he said, Mepa took its decisions independently of the government and of parliament and there was therefore no need for an urgent debate in the House.

Dr Muscat said that the environment impact assessment was based on the technology selected for the project, which technology was the basis for the contract being investigated by the Auditor-General.

He insisted that the Auditor-General should be allowed to complete his work and the House should debate the issue before it came before Mepa.

The Speaker, Louis Galea, suspended the sitting to consider the request.

When the sitting continued, some 45 minutes later, the Speaker said the subject raised by Dr Muscat met the definitions of what constituted a matter of definite and public importance and he also agreed with Dr Gatt that the Mepa considerations were governed by the relevant law. But this did not mean that the Members of the House could not make their views known.

The Chair also agreed with Dr Muscat that this was an urgent matter and it was therefore approving Dr Muscat's request for an urgent debate.