Energy debate left too many questions unanswered – Busuttil

Opposition leader says Joseph Muscat is no longer credible on energy

Simon Busuttil: We feel the lies and contradictions from the government have not answered the questions raised by the Opposition and Labour MP Marlene Farrugia.”
Simon Busuttil: We feel the lies and contradictions from the government have not answered the questions raised by the Opposition and Labour MP Marlene Farrugia.”

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said Monday’s debate on Joseph Muscat’s energy plans had left many questions unanswered, after the government could not commit itself to a definite timeframe for the delivery of the LNG plant at Delimara, on which its energy plan hinges.

“This is a prime minister who does not honour his promises, whose word means nothing. He is not credible.”

“We feel the lies and contradictions from the government have not answered the questions raised by the Opposition and Labour MP Marlene Farrugia,” Busuttil said today.

Busuttil said Labour pledged to build a power station within two years for the reduction of energy tariffs, boasting that he would resign if the plant is not completed in time.

“Muscat claimed that an LNG tanker was required to complete the power station in two years; and it promised to buy energy from Shanghai Electric Power and Electrogas which will, combined, provide electricity more than the average required.

“Muscat also promised he would not privatize Enemalta and had dubbed the BWSC plant ‘a cancer factor’,” Busuttil said of the Delimara phase II plant that currently runs on heavy fuel oil.

He said there was no answer as to how €178 million in tariff cuts will be financed or what had happened to €30 million that Electrogas should have paid up front.

“The biggest question mark is why the power plant was delayed when up until July, government was saying that it was on track… and if the BWSC is no cancer factory now, why not switch it to gasoil from HFO until it is switched to gas?”