Asbestos still haunts the tunnels at the former underground power station in Kordin as Enemalta Corporation evaluates a tender for the removal and disposal of the potentially life-threatening substance, The Sunday Times has learnt.

The defunct power station was used as temporary storage for the toxic material. According to the tender document there are 1,200 cubic metres of asbestos in bags and a further 300 cubic metres that form part of the building’s construction material.

Despite being issued a year ago, an Enemalta spokesman said the tender was still being evaluated and the cost of the operation depended on the outcome of the evaluation.

She said the site would be made safe within a year of the start of cleaning operations.

“The asbestos will be stored in appropriately licensed waste landfills in Europe,” she said, when asked where the material will be dumped.

Writing in The Sunday Times two weeks ago, a reader expressed concern about the use of the heritage site as a temporary storage location for asbestos and asked the authorities to address the situation.

The reader also expressed concern that asbestos removed from other sites around the island may have ended up at the underground power station.

However, the Enemalta spokes-man insisted that over the past five years no asbestos had been deposited at the site and large quantities were removed and shipped to a licensed waste landfill abroad.

The underground power station was last year described as “one of Malta’s most impressive sites of industrial archaeology” by the dean of the University’s engineering faculty Robert Ghirlando, a former Enemalta chairman.

Prof. Ghirlando said the power station consisted of a system of tunnels housing the power plant and associated switchgear.

Built before the Second World War, it was used by the British forces to power installations until their departure in 1979 when it was handed over to Enemalta, which kept it operational until 1992.

Prof. Ghirlando had noted that the diesel engines on site are unique and of the 12 that have survived worldwide, six are located at Kordin.

The Enemalta tender calls for the removal and disposal of asbestos and the decontamination of the storage vault and access tunnel. Most of the asbestos is stored in an underground hall having one access tunnel and is contained in double bags.

The tender also calls for the removal of asbestos and the decontamination of the generating plant and other areas of Kordin power station. A condition in the tender stipulates that the station and the plant must not be disturbed and be retained as a museum.

The tender also provides for the removal and disposal of asbestos in temporary storage at the Marsa power station, which according to the tender document was the result of a recent asbestos removal job. The asbestos is “double bagged and stored in 20-foot containers ready for shipment”. The estimated quantity stored at Marsa is 500 cubic metres.

There are also a number of asbestos pipes stored in two 40ft containers at Delimara power station, which have to be removed.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring toxic fibrous mineral with high tensile strength which can be woven and made resistant to heat.

In the past it was used in a wide range of manufactured goods, including ceilings, insulation, water tanks and friction products such as car brakes.

Exposure to asbestos increases the risk of developing lung disease, including cancer, and was banned in some countries as early as the 1970s.

The EU completely banned the use of asbestos in 2005.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com