A new €70 million Enemed fuel storage and distribution facility was inaugurated on Tuesday evening at the  Ħas-Saptan complex, near Ħal-Għaxaq. 

The project marks the end of a process which saw a shifting of Enemed's fuel storage operations from the 31st March 1979 tanks in the heart of residential Birżebbuġa.

The Birżebbuġa plant has been decommissioned due to its non-conformity with the EU standards.

The huge  Ħas Saptan underground oil storage facility was originally built by NATO at the height of the cold war in the 1950s. Ironically, in the 1980s parts of it were leased for use by civilian vessels of the Soviet Union. 

Since then some of the tanks have been leased to private operators and Enemed itself.

A section has been transformed into a modern storage facility incorporating a tanker-truck loading facility. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Energy Minister Miriam Dalli.  

The project was first announced in 2014.

Dalli said the project meant cleaner air and greater safety for Birżebbuġa residents. 

Abela said the project would save around 44 daily trips by fuel trucks every day. This would result in a reduction in emissions from such trucks by about 20 per cent.  

The state-of-the-art facility consists of 12 subterranean tanks which can store up to 250 cubic meters of fuel each.  

The complex consists of a number of tunnels dug at a depth of 45 meters at the head of the Saptan valley. 

It is connected by tunnels and pipelines to Grand Harbour and Marsaxlokk.