The Ministry of Resources' statement that a wind farm in Gozo was always planned to be incorporated in the Eco Gozo project is baffling to put it mildly, since without excluding the site- specific proposal put forward by Edward Mallia, the government has so far evidently refrained from carrying out any tests on this would-be alternative site, even more so should the Sikka l-Bajda location prove to be unsustainable technically or even economically and financially.

I stand by my claim that when Prof. Mallia had originally floated his proposal it had been shot down a priori on the media by the permanent secretary of the same ministry who had cited various logistical "problems" that according to his "wise judgement" made it impractical to take any further.

And yet we are now being told by a ministry spokesperson that this option is now not being excluded and will be considered further by the same government that rubbished the proposal less than a year ago.

The PL will continue to exercise prudence on the final selection process regarding both Sikka l-Bajda and the proposed Gozo site and only pass judgement once independent technical studies are understandably carried out.

As main spokesman for the Opposition since July 2008, I refute the allegation that I have in any way concluded a site selection process on wind farms drawn up by experts, particularly since we realistically do not have the financial and logistical resources and means to carry out such expensive and extensive data collection and analysis on the status of prevalent wind currents in any specific area across the Maltese islands as any government is usually in a position to do.

At no stage did I recommend that geological studies should have been carried out all over the island at the taxpayer's expense, but one would have expected preliminary studies and findings to be carried out prior to the preliminary selection process being undertaken.

I also stand by my claim that the government has been more forthcoming about its shifting positions on wind energy with the media than it has been with the Opposition and Parliament itself so far.

The fact that the Minister for Resources is virtually pinning his hopes almost literally on a single project - that of Sikka l-Bajda - is reinforced by the fact that the same minister went on record claiming that if the Sikka project had to fall through he could be compelled to urge the EU to revise downwards our renewable targets for 2020 - a claim that was instantly dismissed in principle by the EU Commission within days, as confirmed by your Brussels correspondent.

The facile point made by the ministry that a wind mast was not set up on the Gozitan coast because masts could not be placed all over the islands is an insult to one's intelligence.

Although in a recent DOI statement the ministry claimed that the PL will take a stand on wind farms depending on public perception surveys, this is a distortion of facts. We had merely suggested that before deciding on a particular site the government should follow the specific recommendation of its own foreign consultants that before probing a specific site in further depth it should also carry out public

perception surveys and take heed of their findings before moving ahead. As far as I know, such surveys were not even carried out.

Readers might be interested to know that in a document compiled in July 2008 on An Evaluation Of Concerns From Government Stakeholders Concerning An Offshore Wind Farm At Is-Sikka L-Bajda, the rapporteurs, who included, among others, Dr Alan Deidun, a former PN MEP candidate, stated that according to the said Committee For Wind Energy, the CoWE also strongly believes in the need to envisage exhaustive educational and pub-lic consultation campaigns in order to instil greater public acceptance for the proposed offshore wind farm project.

Meanwhile, both our national energy plan and renewable energy policy plans remain gathering dust in draft form as they have been for years on end.