Works on the new power station are well under way, with huge amounts of progress being made according to ElectroGas general manager Catherine Halpin.

“In the next few weeks all the pipe work will start arriving for assembly on site. We will see a shift from purely civil works to the mechanical works, where we will be welding all the pipe work for the gas turbines,” Ms Halpin explained.

Although the original March 2015 deadline for the power station has long been overshot, Ms Halpin is confident that ElectroGas will deliver an operational plant by the new June 2016 deadline.

“The Delimara site is much smaller than other sites on which such builds are normally done, and it is back dropped by a fully-functional Enemalta power station which presents its own logistical problems.

“It is very difficult working on such a small site and managing all the different interfaces. We are working behind an operational power plant, and have a whole team dedicated to managing these interfaces.

“We need to keep everything on track and everything moving at the same time in order to hit our deadlines. It is tough, that is the job we do, and we have a team of professionals who have done this all around the world.

“Siemens are experienced contractors, and we have received good support from the Maltese contractors and sub-contractors, as well as Enemalta.

“It is no joke, it is a small site and even just laying down space for 500 men during the peak period is a challenge,” Ms Halpin says.

Works on the new power station are expected to peak towards the end up the year, when the boilers for the new plant will arrive on site.

The building site is only accessible from one side, meaning that every single move needs to be planned in advance.

“We are constructing in sections according to how we are going to build, we are not just doing one area from the ground level and building up, we are actually doing it in parts because we know in a few months time we are going to need to shift heavy material to a certain location, so everything, the whole design of this plant is bespoke to this location.”

Ms Halpin says a recent rock fall near the site which registered on the seismic scale will not affect the project.

“We did obviously look into it as soon as it happened and double checked the design

“Our jetty takes us 150m offshore so there is no danger to our plant from other rock falls, we are fairly confident we are ok from that,” Ms Halpin says.