Lino Bugeja's Talking Point is very much to the point. (Italy Goes Nuclear, Whither Malta?, February 27).

Malta has the highest electricity cost in the EU and that is not going to change if we continue on the present path. Nuclear power is undergoing a revival for very good reasons: It does not contribute to global warming and is much cheaper than the alternatives. In addition, the new generation plants are very safe. Introduction of nuclear power on Malta is somewhat problematic because it is such a small place, geographically as well as population wise. However, now that Italy has seen the light, there is a fantastic opportunity for a joint venture with the generating plant either in Malta or in Sicily.

Because of the Nimby code the Italians will favour Italy and the Maltese will favour Sicily of course. Rationally, Sicily makes more sense because there is more space to hide it but even in Malta we could find a spot.

A very important advantage of having clean and relatively cheap electricity available is the exciting possibility of converting all cars, and possibly even buses, in Malta to the new generation of purely electric cars. In other countries that is somewhat more problematic because the range of such cars is limited before they have to be plugged in. However, Malta is a perfect place because almost nobody drives more than 75 km per day. And while this would not solve our parking problems it would assure that we meet our air quality goals.

This issue has to be taken up urgently because, as Mr Bugeja says, it could have a staggering effect on our economy, positive if we participate and negative if we allow the cheap energy to benefit only our competitors.