Conflicting narratives

In one of his recent regular posts on social media, Nationalist MEP candidate Peter Agius expressed his concerns and serious doubts about the reliability of the various public assurances frequently made by Minister Miriam Dalli that there will be a stronger and more reliable electricity supply in summer, whatever the temperature levels.

Agius’s concerns are not in isolation. They are shared by the country too. They have been unwittingly justified by the minister’s own declarations or, rather, the conflicting narratives the minister has been trying unsuccessfully to sell us since 2021.

“It is unacceptable that, in this day and age, Malta is experiencing so many power cuts with such frequency. It is evident that the €130 million spent to upgrade the distribution network are not enough. More millions have to be invested,” Dalli confessed in August 2021.

Eventually, there was an investment in the region of €160 million. Dalli said it was to “implement a very ambitious plan that would guarantee a stable and reliable supply to families and businesses”.

Time passed, millions of euros were spent but the distribution network became more fragile, unreliable, a headache, a hindrance instead of being a commodity serving families and businesses when most needed.

What was described as “unacceptable” for the minister in 2021 remained unchanged or, worse, became unbearable two years later, that is, in 2023, when the same minister complained about “the spate of power cuts faced over the course of a heatwave in July”.

After years of planning issues and conflicting narratives about the country needing to invest millions of euros to reinforce and upgrade the distribution network, all of a sudden, the government announced a change of plans.

It decided to shut down or put aside the “very ambitious action plan” of the distribution network and, instead, change over to the generation, which, until last February, had nothing to do with the “unacceptable”, “spate” of power cuts. Its full capacity of 830 megawatts, sources are warning us, may fail to cope with predicted peak demands next summer. So, a 60-megawatt temporary power plant will be hired at a cost of tens of millions of euros. What a joke!

To certain extent, I prefer it to be a joke rather than a possibility. If the load reaches that intensity, particularly for long periods, it would cause much more havoc in the distribution network than it did last year, which peaked at 630MW.

Or is there something fishy? Time will tell… as it did in the past 14 years.

With so many conflicting narratives and so many millions of euros spent with no concrete solutions in sight, who can blame Agius for his concerns? Only someone not in his right senses or who believes blindly whatever Dalli and her ilk say would not be concerned.

I encourage Agius and the opposition to continue their scrutiny of the government to expose shady deals that fail to address the real issues on the ground.

George Cremona – Victoria

Special reduced car park rates at hospital

There are reduced rates for long-term parking at Mater Dei Hospital. File photo: Times of Malta

I would like to make a complaint and also bring this to the attention of those who may, in future, need to  frequently use the car park at Mater Dei Hospital.

My mum was diagnosed with cancer and entered SAMOC on January 18. Deeming the car park convenient, I made use of it. When enquiring with the pay station several times to see if I could get reduced rates for longer periods, I was told it was not possible, After a month and a half of paying €3, I was finally told to send an e-mail to KIS Services Ltd.

A person at the pay station informed me that they had been told not to offer reduced rates because of inadequate parking space when, for two and a half months, I always found parking.

When, finally, they sent me rates by e-mail, quoting €6 for two days, €6.35 for three days, €15 for seven days, and €47 for 30 days, I decided to take the seven-day option, which ended on April 5, as my mum sadly passed away.

I was denied a refund of what I had initially paid because of lack of information by the company.

Therefore, this is why I want to bring this information to the attention of present and future users of the hospital car park.

Charlie Debono – Fgura

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