Muscat defends gas plant EOI: ‘we’re leaving all options open’

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has failed to comment specifically on a government decision not to allow preliminary bidders for a 200MW gas plant and liquefied natural gas terminal at Delimara, to appeal a selection decision that will shortlist them for a competitive tender.

Bidders for the new power station, an electoral pledge for Labour, will be shortlisted by the energy ministry for a final selection process that must follow EU rules by providing a competitive process that can also be appealed.

The first, preliminary stage in which companies must answer to the expression of interest by informing the government of their wish to enter the competitive tender, will not have an appeals procedure.

"The stand we have adopted is one that leaves all options open, and the wording of the expression of interest reflects this," Muscat said when asked by the press as to why this preliminary round will not have the power of appeal.

"We won't be tightening the parameters and I am convinced that it's going to be a successful project."

The Prime Minister reiterated that the process will be fully transparent and all EU regulations and guidelines will be followed. Asked why the government was choosing not to allow bidders to appeal, Muscat said that at this point, he had no comment to make.

Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi last week said the government had scaled down the prospective gas purchase agreement from 10 years to five years, in a bid to allow his ministry more leeway in the search for a gas supplier.

Mizzi revealed that the reason behind government's decision to scale down the power purchase agreement, which binds the developer of the new gas power plant and accompanying natural gas terminal, to supply the gas itself, was to give it more space in negotiations.

Mizzi had claimed throughout the campaign that the power purchase agreement would fix the price of gas for 10 years, but the Nationalist Party always claimed that having the price of gas fixed for such a long time did not reflect the volatility of the market.

"We left a number of parameters open so we would have the freedom to evaluate different paths, and to have different options that we would be able to present and to discuss with the entities in the Maltese sector and see what they prefer," Mizzi said.