‘Special purpose vehicle’ seems to be the political phrase of the week, with the government and the opposition seemingly in agreement about the possibility of setting up such an instrument to help Enemalta pay back its debt.

Whether or not the SPV will work – for the City Gate project, to help Enemalta pay back its debt, or for any other project – is yet to be seen, but the amount of debt accumulated by the energy corporation is indeed worrying. We’ve been told that it is in the range of €600 million, but that excludes the cost of the interconnector (in the range of €200 million) as well as the cost of emissions.

Can the government say how much the electricity purchased via the interconnector would cost, considering the high cost of electricity in Italy, and will the government again try finding a way of covering more of Enemalta’s costs to avoid having to increase the utility tariffs before the forthcoming election? In any case, taxpayers are bearing the brunt of years of inefficiency at Enemalta, and things don’t seem to be getting any better.

The government’s promise to start solving matters by means of an SPV hasn’t been particularly convincing, also considering that the heavy fuel oil option for the Delimara power station extension will mean that we will need to pay between €11 million and €12 million for emissions as from next year. And while the possible use of gas would mean that the cost of emissions will be lower, that expense will not be eliminated completely.

■ Johann Borg

Birkirkara