Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech on Sunday denounced the “waste” of public money on a €37 million temporary power station which had originally been budgeted to cost €12 million.
He was reacting to news broken by Times of Malta on Saturday that Enemalta was to award a tender to build an emergency 60kWh power plant to Bonnici Group company UNEC Ltd.
UNEC’s €37 million bid was the lowest of four, according to publicly available data.
According to the tender document, Enemalta expects the plant to operate for a maximum of 500 hours per year. Given that the tender is for a 27-month period, that means the plant will operate for 47 days if it runs at its maximum capacity.
The government announced plans to set up a temporary, emergency plant in Delimara during last year’s budget speech.
The power plant is expected to be up and running in early July. Enemalta – which is currently overhauling Malta’s electricity distribution network after a series of days-long power cuts last summer – insists that it has enough electricity to supply the country even during summer peak periods.
Grech said taxpayers were being made to pay €37 million for two generators that will be used for a maximum of 47 days. He said this investment was being made after the government did not invest in distribution for the last 10 years.
He observed that the Labour government had spent years calling the heavy fuel oil power station a “cancer factory” but it was now falling back on diesel power. “It’s an amateur energy policy, with decisions taken without planning and as a result of crises,” Grech said.
Addressing a political activity in Mdina, Grech said that the government seemed to think that it could do whatever it pleased with taxpayers’ money without anyone noticing.
President's appointment
Grech also spoke about the appointment of President Myriam Spiteri Debono, praising her for her inaugural speech.
He also mentioned the cost of living increase and how the government was not tackling the problem seriously. He said that the government was not addressing this issue because it was engulfed in corruption.