Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said today that a blackout of even a few minutes, let alone a day, was unacceptable. He was still awaiting detailed technical explanations of what happened on Tuesday, he said, and was not convinced by the ‘coincidences' which there seemed to be on the day.

Certainly, he said, this did not appear to an issue of generating capacity being unable to keep up with demand.

Replying to questions in an interview on Radio 101, Dr Gonzi said Malta could no longer afford to concentrate power generation on one source. It was for this reason that the governemnt had already started work to diversify the sources of generation by commissioning studies for a link-up with the European power grid and for a portion of power to come from alternative sources of energy. At the same time, capacity at Delimara power station was being beefed up so that Malta could continue to keep up with the demand which progress placed on the system.

In other replies , Dr Gonzi said the government would keep up the pace of reform in various sectors, but he warned that reforms came with a price which the people had to be prepared to bear. Funds could not all come from the EU, and the people had to be prepared for some sacrifices for the changes which everyone said were needed.

RENZO PIANO PLANS

Turning to the plans by Renzo Piano for City Gate and the Opera House site, due to be announced in the coming days, Dr Gonzi said that the designs should be acceptable to the people if everyone, like himself, was prepared to compromise. Dr Gonzi said he was 80% happy with the plans and they would meet budgetary targets and timeframes.

This, he said, was the time to take decisions and finally get this project moving.

BAHRIJA CONTROVERSY

Turning to the controversy over the permit given for development in Bahrija, Dr Gonzi insisted that should any irregularity be detected, or should any false information have been given, the permit would be revoked, as had been done for other cases. He pointed out, however, that this permit was granted in 2000. One had to be careful not to to set precedents. Should one start investigating all permits which went back 10 years, even for structures which had since been built? And did anyone want responsibility for these matters to be handed to the prime minister again?

Dr Gonzi said he remained against building in outside developemnt zones, except for particular cases such as farm rooms and reservoirs.