Paying the price for wrong policies

We are entering a phase of power shortages, electricity blackouts and water run-off problems leading to flooding. This is the result of the Nationalist Party's strategy in the energy and water sectors, which places political interests before technical considerations.

Taxpayers have paid abundantly for electricity infrastructure. The most notable of these is the Delimara power station, which was supposed to be the "final solution", according to Ninu Zammit. Located in the now ruined picturesque Marsaxlokk bay, at the southern tip of Malta, this power station did not provide the solution to our country's electricity demand, especially in the north, where most power cuts are happening.

Location is an important consideration for any project, but locational decisions are not Mr Zammit's forte (think of the proposed landfills at Mnajdra). Delimara is too far away from the north of Malta. It is also located in an area of weak rock prone to large-scale rock avalanches.

What went wrong with the energy sector? Firstly, the government lacked a strategy and relied on political expediency. Austin Gatt has still not told us what is the government's strategy for energy. Lack of strategy means no long-term planning. What have been the results of this lack of strategy?

The infrastructure relating to the distribution of electrical power is lagging behind electricity production and demand. This has produced the power cuts we have become familiar with. Lack of strategy also eliminated the gradual development of alternative power solutions, namely solar and wind energy sources. Malta remains the only European country where alternative sources of energy are practically non-existent.

The failure to harness renewable energy sources is directly the result of confusion and lack of policy. Dr Gatt has made a hotch-potch in this field. The PN had set up the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) which was supposed to regulate energy producers. In fact, it simply maintained and reinforced Enemalta's monopoly on power production.

If a private company wants to use an alternative source of energy for its activities, or even sell this energy, the MRA will not give it the necessary permit. This is a shameful situation which shows that these new authorities are a sham.

Power failures and water mismanagement have become the PN's trademark despite assurances that everything is doing well in this country. The latest heavy downpour of rain has revealed the government's total lack of preparedness for dealing with these annual occurrences. The flooding that has taken place is not merely a natural phenomenon but was compounded by wrong planning policies and a total disregard for the territory we live in.

The mismanagement of run-off water resulting in the flooding at Qormi and Marsa is inexcusable. Large dams over the valleys leading to Wied il-Kbir have been left silted for decades. One large arch dam (an engineering feat of the colonial age), several metres high, has been left to silt up completely. If this dam was cleaned up (as the Labour government had originally intended to do) the flooding at Qormi and Marsa could have been averted.

Labour governments did not set up fancy-named authorities such as the Malta Resources Authority, yet in the 1970s the Labour government had a programme of dam building and water conservation which was revived during the Labour administration in 1996. We need to resume with this programme of dam building and maintenance if we are not to have a repetition of Third World-type flooding.

The damage from intense rainfall is not only caused by flooding but also by rock fall. A case of slope failure occurred at Malta Drydocks, which destroyed an electricity sub-station. Many questions can be posed on this incident. Did the authorities know that the slope was unstable? If so, why was the sub-station built over there?

Why is the government still lacking a technical body, such as a geological service department, which can advise on the stability of slopes, flooding and other natural hazards? Why are public funds wasted on pseudo-regulatory authorities when such a technical body can offer practical and useful advice?

These questions will remain unanswered because the PN government is not really interested in the people's welfare. The myriad of regulators, such as the MRA, which have sprung under the PN administrations have not solved or mitigated the problems we face in the power and water sectors.

We cannot adopt a conservative strategy of "wait and see" while the rest of the world progresses and the natural environment changes. We have to keep abreast of technological innovation and rigorously monitor and mitigate for environmental change. Until the government begins to do this, we wait in our homes for the next catastrophic floods.

Mr Mizzi is the MLP's main spokesman for infrastructural services