Boiler No. 7 all over again: Seven days of hell

It sounds ridiculous but there was a time when this nation literally became chummy with a power station boiler that caused countrywide blackouts.

Everyone was on speaking terms with Boiler No. 7 at the Marsa power station, which even prompted the creation of its own Facebook page.

But that was back in the days of the last leg of the Gonzi administration as the country had to rely on the aged Marsa power station to cater for increased demand.

Boiler No. 7 was finally retired in October 2017 but now, enjoying some well-earned rest it still shares some of its wisdom on Facebook.

In the latest instalment, Boiler No. 7 takes the micky out of the publicity stunt photo of Energy Minister Miriam Dalli and Prime Minister Robert Abela visiting Enemalta workers sweating it out in road trenches to fix the 65 plus faults to the distribution system.

But why resurrect Boiler No. 7? Well, for starters the number seven seems to have some form of hellish connection with power outages in Malta.

For thousands of residents in Mosta, Naxxar, San Gwann, Zebbug, Zurrieq, Zabbar, Zejtun, Rabat, Dingli, Nadur, Victoria and other areas, these have been seven days of hell. As of today, some of these localities are also experiencing water cuts.

From the naughty tripping Boiler No. 7 we are now on relative speaking terms with melting cable joints - although these are too many to have a personality of their own.

A prolonged heatwave and higher demand have exposed the weaknesses in a creaking underground infrastructure. And with climate scientists telling us these heatwaves are not the new normal but could only get worse, God only knows what we could expect next summer and every other one after that.

It looks like the apocalypse. Having to endure a 40+ degree heatwave without electricity for 12 hours or more is not something to be taken lightly.

But that is exactly what the government has done. No coordinated emergency measures were adopted - that would be too much of an alarm that disrupts the beautiful picture of summer bliss.

Ministers acted independently, if at all, leaving the country rudderless in its hour of need.

Extracting details on a compensatory mechanism for the distress caused is like drawing water out of rock. Not that compensation will alleviate the distress but it is a gesture of goodwill.

The health authorities rather belatedly issued a health advisory warning on Monday, well into the heatwave and on the cusp of a change in weather conditions.

The active ageing ministry belatedly announced through a statement the opening of air conditioned day centres for elderly residents in affected areas.

But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the publicity stunt photo of Robert Abela and Dalli near Enemalta workers in the trenches – the politics of Facebook stunts even got Boiler No. 7 riled up.

Was an emergency meeting of the energy, health, active ageing and home affairs ministries held? Why was there no press conference captained by the Prime Minister announcing a raft of emergency measures?

Abela and Dalli keep referring to the sins of PN administrations past to defend the present predicament, whenever faced by questions. Who gives two hoots about what the PN did or did not do? The sins of the past are immortalised in Boiler No. 7’s Facebook page; we don’t need to be reminded. That ship has long sailed.

What people care about now is how long it will take for power and water to be restored to their homes and businesses.

Much like the first of the seven cardinal sins - pride - Abela and Dalli cannot get themselves to admit that in 10 years of a Labour administration very little attention has been given to the distribution system despite the rapid increase in population and economic growth. A mea culpa would be too hard to utter.

Over the past decade, Enemalta’s top brass, cajoled by the political powers at the time, were more interested in splashing €10 million to buy a windfarm in Montenegro to the benefit of Yorgen Fenech, then concentrating on matching the power station investment with upgrades to the distribution network.

And to top it all, government’s PR over the past days has been more interested in distributing news links to what is happening in other countries as a result of the intense heatwave, in a bid to show that the situation in Malta is not unique.

It reminds me of the time during the Gonzi years when TVM sent a crew to Greece to film people who fell destitute in Athens as a result of the financial crisis that gripped the world. The item was top news at 8pm as if to say that Malta, despite the austerity, was relatively much better than Greece and other countries. Yes, back then, TVM was also a government mouthpiece acting at the behest of the administration.

Roll forward and the Abela administration is doing exactly the same.

Sicilians also have it bad. They have my sympathy but it won’t make the life of thousands of Maltese residents any better by telling them others have it worse.

It’s Boiler No. 7 all over again!