Watch: Get Ready For More Blackouts This Summer, MEP Candidate Peter Agius Warns
PN MEP candidate Peter Agius has warned that Malta is likely to witness more power cuts this summer, as he ripped into the government for failing to adequately prepare for this problem.
“We know how many people couldn’t sleep and had to throw meat out of their freezer because of power cuts in the middle of last summer,” Agius warned.
“This is because we increased the population of Malta without catering for the infrastructure. A further 34,000 foreign nationals have moved to Malta since then, which means there will be more power cuts next summer as more people will be consuming electricity.”
Enemalta has issued a tender for an emergency power plant in Delimara to prevent a repeat of last summer’s power cut nightmare.
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However, Agius warned that the bidders’ profiles raise more questions than answers.
The cheapest bid has been submitted by UNEC, a branch of the Bonnici Group, but questions have been raised as to whether the company meets the tender criterion for bidders to submit a list of its power plant leasing contracts over the past three years, amounting to a minimum value of €10 million.
Questions sent by Lovin Malta to UNEC on which contracts it submitted haven’t been answered.
Meanwhile, the second cheapest bid was submitted by a joint venture which is controlled by a Chinese state-owned company. However, Agius warned that the EU recently passed a law that obliges the European Commission to vet planned Chinese investment in EU member states in advance.
“So we have two bids. The first one was submitted by Robert Abela’s former business partner and doesn’t meet the criteria, and the second one will need to go through an EU procedure that can take up to three months. We’re already in April, which means we wouldn’t even have chosen the winning bidder by July.”
He went on to allege that a certain Maltese company has already started purchasing 40 portable generators, and questioned whether the government is secretly planning to give it direct orders when power cuts hit the country again this summer.
Do you think Malta’s infrastructure is prepared for the summer months?
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