"Preparatory works" have started at the Delimara site where the new gas-fired power station is supposed to be completed in six months' time - March 2015.
The Malta Independent visited the site this morning and saw works being carried out on top of a huge mound of earth which sits between the site where the Floating Storage Unit (FSU) will be anchored and the actual power plant. A number of excavators were digging up earth and loading it into lorries, which then emptied their loads over the sides of the mound.
An Enemalta source said this morning that the works are being carried out at the site where the regasification unit - which will turn liquefied gas back into gas form - will be constructed. The source said workers have been told that works to remove the whole mound of earth cannot exceed thirty days. "By removing the mound, the existing diesel tanks, which are currently hidden from view, will become visible from Birzebbugia."
This paper also observed OPM and Enemalta officials on site.
In the meantime, an ElectroGas source said yesterday that dredging works have started in Marsaxlokk bay. The works, which according to the source are being carried out by a company belonging to Charles Polidano 'ic-Caqnu', are aimed at removing excess silt from the seabed and thus making more manoeuvring space for the FSU, which will eventually be anchored some metres away from the power station. The ship will be moored to a jetty, which has yet to be constructed.
This latest development comes after The Malta Independent on Sunday reported two weeks ago that no works were being carried out at the site - despite the looming six month deadline for the completion of the gas power station project. At the time, only a barge with a small drill and an excavator mounted on it was anchored at the proposed site of the FSU was visible.
The news reports published in The Malta Independent on Sunday and an editorial in the daily paper on Monday had put the whole project deadline in doubt. Firstly because of the lack of works at the site. Secondly because one of the ElectroGas partners - Siemens - told this newsroom that, after having acquired shares in the consortium, it still has to invest in the project, along with the other partners, in order to further support the project. And, in a brochure it says construction time for Combined Cycle Gas Plants (CCGT), like the one Electrogas will build, can take between 20 and 24 months.
The government has repeatedly insisted it will stick to its March 2015 deadline but has recently failed to answer any questions sent by this paper on the subject matter. It has also failed to reply to any of our recent news articles. Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi has not had any press events since 19 August, when he addressed a press conference on the nationwide blackout (although he did appear in a video with PM Joseph Muscat for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.)
Apart from the dredging works being carried out now, the government had said earlier this year that ElectroGas had carried out geological tests at Delimara. The site has since been "temporarily lent" to the consortium free of charge in order to "speed up the process." Despite this latest development, completing the whole project and having it tested and up and running in six months time is still "a very tall order", according to a source close to the industry.
