The House sitting and debate on Enemalta degenerated into chaos Monday evening as Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, after rebutting arguments made by the Opposition, suddenly launched into a series of allegations against George Pullicino claiming many businessmen had negative things to say about him. Dr Mizzi also claimed that a tender was found to have serious illegalities.
No new date has been given for the completion of the power station which the government is not in a position to deliver by March 2015, as it pledged to do during the election campaign.
As Mr Pullicino denied any corruption, he also asked the Speaker to see if Dr Mizzi's allegations were permissible by House rules. Dr Mizzi rebutted that he had lodged a report with the Police.
The Speaker withdrew to his chambers to listen to the recordings of what had been said and give his ruling. He ruled that Minister Mizzi had not quoted from a document and that there had been no call to lay the document on the Table of the House. Prime Minister Muscat said that immediately following the sitting, government would publish the document Dr Mizzi referred to.
The sitting ended at 10.30pm with two votes which saw government beating the Opposition with 35 votes to 29, with three ministers being absent and Beppe Fenech Adami being paired by Karmenu Vella. The votes taken resulted in defeat for the Opposition motion, on which the original debate was held, and in favour of a counter motion presented by the government.
What sparked the uproar was an allegation by Minister Konrad Mizzi that a document in connection with an energy tender issued by the previous administration for feed-in tariffs did not contain a bank’s signature, adding that when contacted, the bank said that it was not possible for this document to have been issued by them.
The opposition here demanded that the document is tabled in Parliament. Minister Mizzi refused to do so and said that the information has been passed on to the police.
PN MP George Pullicino said that Minister Mizzi was defaming him and trying to dirty his clean reputation. In addition, he challenged Minister Mizzi to mention a single businessman who spoke negatively about him.
Earlier, Minister Mizzi said that Shell would be providing the gas which would power the new gas power station and the BWSC plant once it was converted to gas.
A seven year business plan had been agreed with Shanghai Electric (the investor in Enemalta) and the price of energy had been fixed for five years in virtue of the power purchase agreement with Electrogas. After that the electricity price would be linked to an international index.
Over these seven years Enemalta would recover and stand on its own feet.
Dr Mizzi said Shanghai Electric would finance the conversion of the BWSC plant to gas.
There will be better energy reliability with new investment in the distribution network, also with Shanghai Electric.
A balanced generation would come from the new gas power station being built by Electrogas using Siemens equipment, the BWSC plant, the interconnector and Delimara II. Delimara II would be kept in reserve.
Malta could not rely on the interconnector since it was subject to failure because of its many joints, as well as possible damage from ships' anchors. Should the new power station not be built, the government would have had to keep Delimara I and Marsa as reserve in case of interconnector failure.
Dr Mizzi said the government would not be obliged to buy the output of the BWSC plant operated by Shanghai Electric, as Dr Busuttil had claimed.
On the power stations, Dr Mizzi said technical talks on the conversion of the BWSC plant to gas would be concluded shortly. The plant would still be able to use gas oil. Emissions would be 50% cleaner than at present
Meanwhile with regard to the new gas power station, work had started on the regassification plant. Work would soon be taken in hand on the building of a new jetty and the infrastructure for the provision of gas.
The gas plant itself would be provided by Siemens and the gas would be procured from Shell.
Meanwhile, work was starting on the dismantling of the Marsa power station.
PL MP Marlene Farrugia, earlier, had urged an end to infighting and for both sides to adress the issues.
She argued that the government has said Malta should be used as an energy hub and would like a further explanation on this. The more we are honest with the people, trust in the government will expand, however we must give answers to the people
What interests the people is assuring a future, not just the present. "I urge the government to answer questions raised," she said, going on to list a number of requests she had made in an article on The Malta Independent on Monday morning.
PL MP Marlene Farrugia said that in 2013, the Maltese people voted for an energy plan that pledged reduced tariffs, clean air and the construction of the proposed power station.
“Not only: the Labour party promised a timeframe. Now, we all know that tariffs for households decreased and next up are for businesses. People started to question on how and why the construction plan was delayed,” she said, arguing that instead of fighting, both sides of the House should address the issues.
She said that the public needed to know what the implications of the delay were going to be and what will be done with the surplus electricity that was going to be generated.
You want me gone, but I want you here - Joseph Muscat
Earlier in the debate Prime Minister Joseph Muscat quipped that the opposition leader seemed to want him gone while he, on the contrary, he wanted the opposition here.
The Prime Minister argued that in the meeting prior to the elections, "Marco Cremona said that we would assume that if the PL is in government and the investor does not appear, the Prime Minister would need to take responsibility and resign. I replied yes. The expression of interest came out and we have an investor! If this did not happen then yes I would have resigned but the investor has been available for over a year!".
"A child's research skill would have led to this discovery," he said, addressing Dr Simon Busuttil who had said the Prime Minister should resign.
"The Maltese families this year, through the reduction in energy and water tariffs, have already got back €13 million. This would not be a one-off thing, but we will continue to do this year after year. From March, we will begin the second part of our promise and reduce costs for businesses," he added.
Dr Muscat mentioned that previously debates used to surround a bankrupt Enemalta whereas today this is not the case.
On 10 June, the government let Parliament know what was going to take place with regards to the Petroleum division, that the previous government had tried to sell but failed. "This is the only part of Enemalta that makes profit. We removed this from the sale of Enemalta, how can you criticise this?"
Today we discuss workers for Enemalta who have a future, today we discuss an Enemalta as a company moving forward, todaysitting on Enemalta boards there are people who are not part of the government with a mix from both sides as we have nothing to hide, unlike the previous scandals that went on. Today we are discussing an Enemalta which will use natural gas rather than the dirtiest fuel possible.
"PN MP Tonio Fenech used to say that the people need to get used to high energy bills, but today the people are getting used to lower costs," Dr Muscat said. "Whoever is giving you advice is driving you directly into a wall".
Joseph Muscat tied his political career to the construction of the power station. He has lied again and again, PN Leader Simon Busuttil says
Dr Busuttil has again linked the construction of the power station with the Prime Minister's political career.
Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil spoke of a man who voted Labour, who told him that Joseph Muscat is like a Labour-voting workman he used to know. The workman said; "My daughter wanted to build a new kitchen so we agreed on the design, the price and the date it would be ready. From time to time I used to call him up and he used to tell me everything was ok. Coming up to the wedding date, we went to see it, and he hadn't even started it. We had to buy a ready designed kitchen, that we didn't like. Today, this workman does not work for me".
"I will make a comparison with Dr Muscat," Dr Busuttil said, "where what he said to journalists these past two years was a lie. This debate is about Joseph Muscat's word as well. We are not speaking on a small promise, but the biggest promise the Prime Minister made, attaching his political career to it.
"He promised to build the station in order to reduce water and electricity tariffs, In addition he said if it does not occur, he would hold personal political responsibility and resign".
Dr Muscat himself said he would resign. He did not tie it to the reduction in tariffs, but with the construction of the station which would lead to the reduction in tariffs.
The Malta Independent's Neil Camilleri last week asked him whether it would be built on time, Dr Busuttil said, "and the Prime Minister had to admit that it would not be ready. On his biggest promise, the Prime Minister failed. Dr Muscat said a new labour government would hit the ground running," Dr Busuttil explained.
"Dr Muscat had, many times, said the project was on track for March, however today we know it was off track... off track... off track and what he said for months was one lie after another".
International media knew about the delay before we did - PN MP George Pullicino
PN MP George Pullicino stated that in an article in The Malta Independent, PL MP Marlene Farrugia said; “the least the government can do is act with respect by answering the questions asked”.
He requested that the Prime Minister refrain from confusing people by linking the BWSC plant with the Electro Gas plant. “Why did the construction of the Electro Gas plant hit trouble when problems arose regarding the sale of the BWSC”.
The PN has long been asking for the contracts which have remained hidden, Mr Pullicino said. “Recently I asked Energy Konrad Mizzi what work will be done over the coming six months to build the power station. The response was that the private sector was handling it. Therefore he doesn’t know the date. The people are asking, when will the plant be complete?”
Dr Mizzi, until July, had said that the project was on track, Mr Pullicino argued. He tabled an international media report from the newspaper Tradewinds that read ‘The project’s start-up schedule appears to have slipped back from September 2015 to March 2016’. Minister Mizzi was telling us in July that the project was on track, yet this media report appeared in June”.
The PN MP mentioned that international fuel prices dropped by 22%, yet local prices did not reflect this.
Heated debate over an accusation on former PM Gonzi
Education Minister Evarist Bartolo argued that the Malta Security Services had been told by a ministry official to shred papers that had been passed to the entourage of former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi about corruption at Enemalta. PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco challenged this saying that the Minister Bartolo should identify the person and not just make accusations.
This resulted in a very heated debate, with the Speaker of the House, Anglu Farrugia, ordering the minister to stop as he refused to identify the person. The minister disobeyed and this resulted in his microphone being turned off. Shortly after, the minister’s microphone was again turned on and the minister stated that these accusations, with proof, had been made during the electoral campaign, even identifying the permanent secretary of that particular ministry who was later ordered to shred the files.
Dr Gonzi denies
In a statement issued later, former premier Lawrence Gonzi said he had been informed about what Minister Bartolo had said. Dr Gonzi denied he had received documents regarding corruption in oil procurement and that he had passed these documents to the Secret Service. Nor did he order anyone from his staff to pass these documents to the Secret Service.
Where is the money - Tonio Fenech
PN MP Tonio Fenech questioned whether the money from China and Electro Gas had been received and that he does not know where the government will pay for the reduction in the tariffs. “You will be held to your promise and the money you promised to achieve we must receive!”.
The PN MP explained that Enemalta no longer exists as it is now a Public Liability Company. He again asked where the government is getting the money to pay for these reductions as the money from the sale of Enemalta has yet to go through.
Background
Last week, PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco presented a motion saying that the Prime Minister had promised that the new power station would be completed within two years in order to lower the water and electricity tariffs. He also added that the start and end dates for the project needed to be given.
Government whip Carmelo Abela said that one sitting will be allocated for the debate with opening and closing remarks to be allocated to the Opposition. Since Parliament will allocate a whole sitting on the debate, there was no need for a ministerial statement that was to be made by Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi.
Earlier this month government revealed, after a number of articles by this newsroom and the rest of the press, that the completion of the new gas-powered station will not be completed by the set deadline, next March.
The Opposition argued that this was a main focus of the government's energy plan and the sitting resulted in back and forth arguments between both sides of Parliament.
The motion debated tonight demands that a clear deadline for the completion of the power plant be set and that government explains how it plans to cover the project's financial losses due to the delay. In addition, it also calls on the government to give details of these losses and how it plans to handle any repercussions which could hit businesses, families and Enemalta.
At the last meeting of the House Business Committee last week PN Deputy Leader Mario De Marco and PN MP George Pullicino had asked for this Parliamentary debate be filmed live, arguing that had they been in the new Parliament, would be filmed live on television.
Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech had argued that the government does not agree, as Net TV which had asked to film part of the debate did not want to film the entire debate. The principle of filming was for all Plenary sessions, not just one, he argued.
The government is not seeing enough justification to see a change in how things have been done up until now. To remove previous practices must not be a knee-jerk reaction, Dr Grech argued.
Dr de Marco had said that this would serve as a good trial run prior to the new Parliament building being completed and used.
As such, since there was no agreement between the two sides, a ruling by the Speaker was requested, and the Opposition request was denied.
Giving his ruling at the beginning of this evening's sitting, the Speaker noted that whenever it was permitted for Parliament to be aired live on television, it was through agreement by both sides. The Speaker noted that agreement in principle had occurred when both sides agreed to show Parliament live in the new Parliament, however they could not agree on this happening now.
An agreement with a local company to film Parliament live is in place, should it pass through the House Business Committee, the Speaker argued. He argued that due to the disagreement between both sides, this evening's debate will not be aired live on TV.