Mizzi avoids giving deadline, says Delimara plant will go online in coming weeks
Minister Konrad Mizzi yesterday would not commit himself to a date when the new gas-fired power station at Delimara will be fully commissioned.
Pressed by journalists during a press conference to explain the power outages Malta experienced yesterday, Dr Mizzi said that tests are being carried out and the power station will be in operation when the government is satisfied that all is well and good.
He said that the gas-fired plant is already being tested and has produced limited amounts of electricity and the BWSC plant will start running on gas in the coming weeks. The shift to gas power will be completed by the summer, he said.
But the minister would not give a specific deadline, even when this newspaper pointed out that the project will be overdue by two years next month. “From a technical point of view we are very satisfied with the project and we have received very good feedback from the engineers. But we will only fully commission the plant when all tests have been finished and we are completely satisfied with the results.”
Enemalta CEO Frederick Azzopardi added that the corporation wanted to be sure everything was working in order before pressing the switch.
The PL had promised, before the last general election, to build and commission a gas-fired power station by March 2015. Despite initially rejecting claims that the two-year deadline was too ambitious, the government missed deadline after deadline.
Pressed to say why various targets had been missed, Dr Mizzi pointed out that the project was being carried out by a number of
stakeholders. He promised, however, that the plant will be up and running by the end of this legislature.
Dr Mizzi also said that the undersea route for a gas pipeline will be identified by the end of the summer. The next step will be to apply for the necessary permits. The minister also failed to give a specific timeline for the pipeline but said the government did not want a situation where the tender was issued before the permits were in hand, like what happened in the case of the interconnector under a PN government.
He said the 18-year power purchase agreement the government has with Electrogas will not hold the government from buying cheaper gas from the pipeline, adding that all contracts will be debated in Parliament in the coming weeks.
The minister also chose not to give details regarding his wife Sai Mizzi, saying that all questions pertaining to his family are to be directed to the OPM.
On Monday, it was revealed that Sai Mizzi is still employed at the Malta consulate in Shanghai. The minister however would not reply to questions on the subject made by the media.