Keep your eyes on the ball: this is about the power station not George Pullicino and PV panels

Published: October 24, 2014 at 11:47am

It doesn’t take much to use diversionary tactics on the media and the public, does it? Or on the Opposition, for that matter.

We’re all agog for the big power station debate in parliament, Conrat turns up with a canard of a contract to save himself from talking about the mess he’s in, and MPs, the press and the public oblige him by focussing on the agenda he has set to save his neck.

Next thing we know, instead of talking about the Power Station That Has Gone AWOL, or the threatened insolvency of Gasol, or the strange fact that SOCAR will be buying the gas from another company even though it exists to sell gas, we’re talking about somebody who is no longer in government and a PV panels tender.

Instead of talking about the government’s plans to take a capital sum of Eur30 million from Electrogas, which should be used for investment, and scattering it about instead for the very temporary result of cutting power tariffs and electricity bills in a one-off gesture, we are talking about Eur35 million INVESTMENT in sustainable power sources – PV panels – which we have to do anyway to bring us in line with EU requirements on sustainability.

Somehow, the government and Conrat Mizzi have managed – because people don’t think and the press doesn’t analyse – to sell in a few minutes the notion that spending Eur35 million on PV panels for sustainability in power sources is scandalous but li tberbaqEur30 million on playing the Roman emperor and scattering corn to your people is not.

Keep your eyes on the ball. This is about the power station and Conrat Mizzi. It is not about PV panels and George Pullicino. George Pullicino is not in government.

PV debate 1

PV debate 2

PV debate 3




20 Comments Comment

  1. jaqq says:

    The government was elected on the slogan that they want to do politics in a new way. With their own argument what was wrong then is wrong now and not justifiable. It is useless to point fingers at other’s mistakes to try to justify your own wrong doings

  2. Jozef says:

    It’s also plainly an ideological attack on the concept of feed in tariffs. Replacing a mindset requires both incentives and disincentives.

    In a place where the energy provider shall clearly remain just one, and there’s another reason to denigrate the interconnector; choice of energy provider, the subtle denigration was to be expected.

    Just wait for it, rules and regulations to replace the existing photovoltaics industrial cluster.

    Muscat needs the full market, or so that’s what both Electrogas and Shanghai expect.

  3. J.Sammut says:

    MALTA TAGĦNA LKOLL?

    PL MANIFEST ELETTORALI 2013

    17

    GVERN B’BIBIEN MIFTUĦA GĦALIK (OPEN GOVERNMENT)
    7 Naddottaw il-kunċett ta’ open government, proċess li permezz tiegħu mhux biss insaħħu t-trasparenza u l-kontabbiltà iżda nixprunaw aktar is-sehem taċ-ċittadin billi nagħtu l-possibilità lil kulħadd jagħti l-opinjoni tiegħu, jipparteċipa u jinfluwenza direttament id-deċiżjonijiet u għażliet tal-Gvern. F’dan il-kuntest, insaħħu u ntejbu l-aċċess għall-informazzjoni għaċ-ċittadin primarjament permezz ta’ mezzi on-line li joffru aktar trasparenza.

    Kemm ngħarrfek li se jpoġġu l-kuntratt on line skond l-open governance policy. Take it as done if it was promised!!

  4. Jon says:

    Conrad said he would not sign this contract. He must want to sign a new contract to buy the PV panels from Shanghai Power Electric which will assemble PV panels in Malta.

    http://www.enemalta.com.mt/newsDetails.aspx?id=18087

  5. ciccio says:

    I see that Konrat and Muskrat intend to keep us entertained while we wait for their gas power station.

    Meanwhile, while we sit back and count the days, weeks, months and years, why don’t they show us what they have? For starts, they said they have signed the “electricity deal” with Electrogas. If they publish that one, maybe we can get distracted looking through its clauses.

  6. Wink says:

    May I have your email address, please?

    [Daphne – [email protected]]

  7. Makjavel says:

    No wonder Shanghai Electric and Electrogas have both pulled the hand brake.

    Comrade Conrat has a completely wrong calculator for feed-in tariffs, whether they are PV, Shanghai Electric or Electrogas.

  8. Alex says:

    Therein lies the PN’s problem. As long as the likes of George Pullicino and Tonio Fenech, capable as they may be, are still front lining the party, the PL will have easy targets for the under-the-belt attacks they excel so much in.

  9. ciccio says:

    This piece contains an excellent explanation of events.

    http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-10-24/local-news/Chris-Ciantar-replies-to-Konrad-Mizzi-process-was-governed-by-Department-of-Contracts-6736124317

    Now can Konrot Mizzi publish a similarly detailed letter in the media, explaining the exact reasons and sequence of events and facts why he is not able to deliver a ‘doable’ power station project by March 2015 which would pay for reduced electricity tariffs, as he and his boss had promised during the electoral campaign?

    • ciccio says:

      Oh, and another thing. Some political comments have raised the issue that there was one bidder.

      Is there anything illegal if only one bid is received? Did the terms of the tender say anything about this? I suspect not.

      But in any case, perhaps Conrot Mizzi can reveal how many tenderers offered a gas tanker in the middle of Marsaxlokk in the power panic station contract?

  10. Newman says:

    It is worse than scattering corn to the people. The PM is using that €30 million to buy his way out of the political mess he put himself into with his pre-electoral promises.

    He had 3 choices:

    1. keep his promise and resign;

    2. renege on his promise to resign;

    3. twist the facts by saying that his promise to resign was linked to the lowering of the energy tariffs and not the delivery of the project.

    He chose the last option and must now use the €30 million to fund it.

  11. Kelinu says:

    This was all done to stop electricity being provided to the grid by the PV panel project, reducing the amount of surplus electricity once the new power station is up and running. The power station investors must be licking their lips.

  12. Paul says:

    Perhaps they are not happy with Alberta, and they have a Taghna Lkoller lined up for the contract instead, hitting two birds with one stone.

    • ciccio says:

      Maybe Shanghai Electric is eyeing those government building rooftops? That’s an easy way to get access to many government offices in Malta.

      Muscrat said they said they wanted to invest in solar panels here in Malta. King rat also said that his government was looking into the possibility of exporting energy from Malta – you know, a hub.

      It could be one of those concessions which I suspect China is cornering Muscat to concede if he wants his power stations delivered and China to sign on the dotted line of the contracts covering the BWSC and Enemalta investments.

      Ah, those brown envelopes must have made it to the occupants of the Great Hall of the People in Tienanmen Square.

  13. chico says:

    I follow the thread: Canard…duck…peking…shanghai…wild goose chase… red herring

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