PN Deputy Leader Mario De Marco today said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna have given conflicting information on the Electrogas power station.
He said that Prime Minister Muscat, prior to the election, said the private sector would be extremely interested in setting up a new power station. Dr De Marco then quoted from an interview published by The Malta Independent, in which he said "There are certain activities which the private sector would not go into: in economics we call it 'market failure'. For instance, no one would build a lighthouse or a bridge, because how are they going to collect their dues? That's where government usually steps in, and the old-fashioned model is for the government to step in and built it itself".
See the interview here.
Dr De Marco went on to say that the construction of the station, and the €360 million state guarantee was based on a series of untruths. "Once this guarantee elapses in 22 months, then another guarantee would come into force. The second guarantee comes in the guise of a new power purchase agreement where government will guarantee Electrogas's revenue stream once the station is operational". He stressed that this guarantee will be burdened by the people and not the Prime Minister.
Dr De Macro, together with PN MP Censu Galea, called on government to publish the contracts with both Electrogas and Shanghai Electric Power.
Dr De Marco also said that the PL's statements prior to the election, that the BWSC plant was a cancer factory was untrue. "Weeks after being elected, Dr Muscat applied for and obtained an extension to the permit allowing this plant to operate on heavy fuel oil". He said the plant is still burning heavy fuel oil.
Dr De Marco also questioned whether the new station was needed for the reduction in tariffs, stating that the cost for Enemalta to purchase fuel dropped due to the Interconnector.
"Prior to the election, Dr Muscat pledged that Enemalta would remain wholly owned by the Maltese government," he said, adding that today a third of Enemalta now belongs to the Chinese government.
He said that the Prime Minister also broke his promise, that the station would be complete within two years.
The PN Deputy Leader also said that when the international oil price was down 73%, local power tariffs only reduced by 25%.
Maltese benefitting from third lowest energy bills in EU
Despite Opposition leader Simon Busuttil’s negativity, the Maltese and Gozitan population are benefitting from the third-lowest energy bills in the EU, the Labour Party said in a statement.
The Party reminded that Dr Busuttil had caused the energy bill reductions the “gimmick of the millennium.”
It said oil prices have actually fallen by 35 per cent between April 2013 and July 2015, and not the 73 per cent claimed by the Nationalist Party.
It also reminded that oil purchases are in dollars, and the value of the euro has fallen significantly since April 2013.
The Prime Minister failed at maths - PN
In a response to the PL statement, the PN said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat not only failed in the energy sector but also at maths,
"In March 2013, when he became Prime Minister, the international price of oil was $110 per barrel. Today, the price is $40 per barrel".
"A secondary school student would be able to calculate that the price of fuel reduced by 75% and not 35% as the Prime Minister is saying. Even if Dr Muscat is telling the truth, which he is not, he would still be stealing from Maltese families as that reduction did not pass into the pockets of families and businesses”.