The First Hall of the Civil Court yesterday ordered Enemalta Corporation to pay Alfred Baldacchino Lm550,000 as compensation for the damages sustained when the government built the power station in Delimara.

Former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, who owns land in the vicinity of the power station, had been awarded Lm360,000.

The court heard how Mr Baldacchino owns land measuring nearly 11,000 square metres in Delimara, on which he built his house.

In April 1988, the government had declared that nearly 100,000 square metres of land in Delimara was needed to build the new power station. This area included the land owned by Mr Baldacchino.

Mr Baldacchino was awarded Lm107,000 as compensation for the expropriation of the said land but Mr Baldacchino saw this as too little and termed it “inadequate”. He complained that as a result of the development of the power station, he was not allowed to enjoy his property.

Mr Baldacchino complained that he was subjected to a number of inconveniences when the power station was being built and the situation got worse when the power station became fully operational. He said the toxic fumes and the noisy turbines adversely affected his quality of life and made living there an impossible task.

The court heard that, according to a court expert, the value of the property amounted to Lm750,000, had the power station not been built there. In view of the power station, the price of the property went down to Lm200,000. As a result, the damages sustained by Mr Baldacchino when the power station was built close by to his house amounted to Lm550,000.

The court said that the value of the property was the principal criterion for establishing compensation in cases of expropriation. In this case, the court was dealing with a dwelling house which had become uninhabitable so the person who used to reside in this house was entitled, as a minimum, to the value of the property.

After taking into consideration all these evaluations, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Raymond Pace, decided to award Mr Baldacchino Lm550,000 in damages.