‘Enemalta did not have enough time to do all necessary works’ – Abela on energy distribution issue
Prime Minister, Robert Abela, said that while the Government has invested €55 million to improve the electricity distribution system, Enemalta’s workers “did not yet have enough time to do all the necessary works needed.”
The Prime Minister was asked on One Radio what the relevant authorities are doing to solve the power cuts. Abela responded that the country has a distribution issue, not an energy generation issue.
“We have enough generation to meet all the needs of this country”, the Prime Minister said, referencing the power station, interconnector and renewable energy sources.
Abela said that “the country has a distribution problem” and that despite lots of work being done by Energy Minister, Miriam Dalli, Enemalta CEO, Ryan Fava, and Enemalta’s workers over the last winter, more work is to come.
He said that they had analysed the areas with the most acute problems seen last summer, and worked on those, adding that in a few months they made the €55 million investment “that saw us change and strengthen the distribution network.” He described the volume of work done as ‘massive’.
He said that many roadworks were done for this purpose, though he noted that they were all necessary.
Abela said that the timeline they had to try and fix the distribution system was not enough to solve all the issues, given the project’s “massive” scale
He then said that “all the remaining work that is still required will be completed”, before thanking Enemalta’s workers for their work.
Abela then criticised the Nationalist Party for their proposed solution to this issue: for the energy sector to be privatised. The Prime Minister declared that he is against this proposal since this would result in energy prices falling in the hands of private companies, which he said would lead to higher prices.
During this interview, he was also asked about Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election as President of the European Commission and her announcement regarding the introduction of a Commissioner for the Mediterranean.
Abela said that he had initially proposed the role of Mediterranean Commissioner way back during the MED9 conference, and that he is very content about her decision to take this up over the next five-year term.
The Prime Minister said that this role is not just about handling migration in the region, but that it must also be about providing many opportunities. On this note, he said that “migration cannot be tackled without investment, especially investment in origin countries.”
He then spoke of Malta’s signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) with Libya; the first of the mentioned MoUs related to controlling the arrival of irregular migrants by sea, while the second signed MoU related to renewable energy. The latter describes a project in the works where Libya will provide its land for solar panels, and an interconnector will supply this solar energy to the Maltese islands for use; excess energy could then be sold off to the rest of Europe, Abela added.
“This could allow the Mediterranean to become a hub for clean energy”, he said.
He also spoke about securing the safety of places all across the Mediterranean, remarking that “we must not abandon North Africa.”
Prime Minister, Robert Abela, also spoke about local sectors, namely the education sector and occupational health and safety, including on construction sites.
PM Abela said that the recently signed sectoral agreement with Malta Union of Teachers shows this Labour Government’s commitment to the education sector. He detailed that with this signed collective agreement, continued investments in schools, and its strategic goals for the sector, the Government is showing that it is placing human resources at the centre.
“We have invested heavily in our workers”, he said, “We now have a motivated workforce.”
Abela added that with the ongoing investments being made, the Maltese Islands are not forecasting a future filled with increasing quantities of workers, but “we are seeing a Malta and Gozo for quality workers.” The Prime Minister elaborated and said that the Government’s focus lies in upskilling and reskilling, as it aims to continue reforming the employment sector, while keeping human resources as the utmost priority throughout.
On occupational health and safety, the Prime Minister said that the recently enacted Health and Safety at Work Act must be enforced to work. He said that following this new legal framework, he hopes that the relevant authorities have enough workers to be able to conduct more regular inspections. In this regard, he said that he wishes to see both the BCA and OHSA collaborate for this cause and react to situations “rapidly.”