Inching towards the summer recess

Article from Malta Independent.

All indications seem to suggest that even though Parliament will be going into recess either today or tomorrow, we are all in for a long hot summer.

As for the key issues I will let you pick and choose rather than fueling speculation myself.

I have had my say – arguably in a more forthcoming manner than others right across the political spectrum – on most of these issues.

So for the moment I will rather sit back and enjoy the show comforted by the fact that no matter what liberal oriented posturing the Gonzi regime might try to project so long as the former Catholic Action President will remain Premier of Malta, nothing will change on the ground as far as civil liberties are concerned!

While presently striving to ‘save the planet’ – if you pardon the pun, by attending an interesting Commonwealth Conference on climate change, apart from the customary keynote speeches, work shops and discussion programmes, I am particularly interested in visiting a few examples of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects operating at both national and local levels within London itself – from the Beddington zero energy development in Surrey, to the closed loop recycling plant in Dagenham; the Greenwich millennium village development in Greenwich, which must be the first UK millennium community of environmentally innovative and sustainable developments and also the London development agency which is home to the UK’s largest hydrogen fuel cell housed in a building, generating cleaner, lower carbon energy on site.

Meanwhile, while appreciating the fact that it is virtually impossible for the media to highlight all parliamentary questions due to the inevitable overload and blitz they are invariably inundated with, here are some interesting replies I managed to solicit recently from the ministers concerned:



• By the time of writing the Minister of Finance continues to refrain from tabling the internal report about the alleged abuses in the VAT Department inspite of at least three different reminders specifically asking him to table the said report in the House;

• I am still chasing the Minister concerned to obtain the relevant information relating to LN 84/2010 as a result of which an approving body was meant to be set up in connection with the processing of eco-contribution issues. In my PQ I had asked when this approving body was set up. Who are its members? How many times has it met since its establishment? What has been the outcome of their meetings to date?

• While Mr David Spiteri Gingell had been listed in a parliamentary reply as having served as executive rapporteur of an ad hoc committee set up by Enemalta in connection with structural shortcomings related to the generation and distribution of electricity as well as the identification of loading shedding problems between the two existing power stations, it seems that the new Minister for Energy has confirmed that he no longer serves on the said committee.

• Recently the international media reported that an interesting work shop was held on 21 June in Libya together with the Commission of the EU on the need to combat organised crime and for which many experts from member states attended. The same media reports had claimed that amongst the subjects discussed were transnational crime, border issues, drugs and human trafficking. When asking if Malta was represented and at what level, the Minister for Home Affairs merely replied that according to media reports experts from Greece, Germany, Lithuania and the EU were amongst the participants in the workshop that I had mentioned. This does not really show a pro-active stance on our part!

• This is even more interesting. The Mepa Chairman had tried to reassure both his audience during a recent business breakfast as well as those attending the outline development permit session of the power station extension, that when the relevant full permit will be issued it will subject the extension to an IPPC permit which in effective terms means integrated pollution prevention and control. When I recently asked when was the IPPC set up regarding the ‘old’ Delimara power station as well as what effective measures have been taken to ensure strictest adherence to the conditions, standards and criteria applicable throughout while querying the number of audits carried out in connection with this process, I was given the following reply – that primarily the IPPC permit was issued in March 2010. Almost when the plant was near its sell-by date! And even more worrying is the news that the very first detailed audit on the plant is scheduled to take place later this year.

Reassuringly (!!) we were also informed that Mepa had already issued a call for tenders for qualified engineers so that amongst other duties they could be in a position to provide technical assistance during the audit.

Given the emphasis that the Mepa Chairman placed on such pivotal audits during the said business breakfast when he tried to justify the cost of his over generous salary, I am sure that one need not be an environmental management expert to realise that there is nothing reassuring about that!

Other issues:

• Soliciting information from the Ministry of Finance as to what insurance premia have been paid by Enemalta, what brokerage fees have been paid to a particular insurance broker, as well as why no calls for tender have been issued regarding certain policies to determine whether better rates could be obtained from brokers and underwriters, remains one big ordeal. Even though it should be logical for Enemalta to pursue this path in the light of the competition in the insurance sector. But then many occurrences at Enemalta have not always pursued the most logical of paths!

• So we now have it that as in the case of other mega tenders, there was only one bidder for the interconnector with Sicily. From the information I have, the lead company in question is one of the subcontractors of the Delimara power station extension and a mere Google search will reveal that is track record is apparently as tainted as that of other companies that hogged the limelight recently.

• I recently asked the Minister of the Interior to consider revising construction hours in residential areas in full respect of noise pollution regulations as well as to reduce the inherent and widespread inconvenience to residents in the area; particularly in Sliema and St Julian’s which remain one big permanent building site. I was merely referred back to an old and archaic Legal Notice that is long past its sell-by date that things are pre-destined to remain as they are.

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