I wonder why the government has not said anything about last week’s power failure, and about how the Delimara power station extension is doing. Surely, with so much controversy surrounding the BWSC facility, the government should feel it incumbent upon itself to explain how it is performing, seeing that it broke down during the testing phase that followed the commissioning stage.

In fact, according to the news, the new extension is at present at a standstill, again. Apparently it has broken down again. All we have heard from Enemalta is that the BWSC station did so well in its first week of operation that it was 43 per cent efficient and saved €1 million in fuel use. Nothing has been said about its present breakdown, coming so soon, within its first few weeks, after it went into operaton.

This power facility cost us hundreds of millions of euros. It is true that the less used, the better it will be for our health, because it uses the most polluting fuel there is that is available. But when the government went for heavy fuel oil, it did not do so to promote our health, but because someone wanted it like that, for reasons that have never been explained.

Now, all those millions having been paid out of the tax money we pay in, the power facility seems to be not only inefficient, but also unreliable. This is what corruption has led to – a power station that is not only very costly and highly polluting, but also highly unreliable. Households and business concerns will not be able to rely on a steady power supply. I wonder, has the Marsa power station been de-commissioned yet?

The Nationalist government has much to answer for, as will also all those who vote for the Nationalist Party at the March election.

J. Borg,

Rabat.