Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/408403
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 2014 10 News BEFORE the election Labour made two promises: reducing electricity bills and converting the existing BWSC plant from dirty heavy fuel oil to cleaner natural gas. It is the second promise which may return to haunt Labour. This is because the impression given before the election was that the conversion was to be financed by the new company chosen to de- liver the new gas infrastructure. But the expensive conversion was not included in the deal with Elec- troGas. Subsequently the government announced that it was Shanghai Electric Power, which was to con- vert the BWSC plant after taking ownership of the plant. The cost of the conversion is estimated to be between €60-€70 million. The problem is that the govern- ment is not only committed to buy energy from ElectroGas but the new plant has to be operated at near full capacity so as not to lose efficiency. Of the two power plants, it is the BWSC plant be sold to the Chinese company, which offers the greatest JAMES DEBONO BEACH rooms in Ghadira, which as from next year will benefit from a renewable 5-year lease, have had their lease automatically renewed every six months for the entire pe- riod between 1993 and 2014. But the greater sense of perma- nence offered by the new scheme will come at a cost. This is because most owners will see their rents increase fivefold from just €93.17 a year to €500 a year. "The new scheme will entitle ten- ants to a more solid and longer lease title for a period of five years which can be renewed for a further five- year term," a spokesperson for par- liamentary secretary Michael Falzon told MaltaToday. Unlike the shacks in Armier, the green rooms in Ghadira were given a legal title by the Labour govern- ment in 1983. The original lease was issued for a 10-year period and ex- pired in 1993. On the expiry of the first 10 years, the majority of leases were automati- cally renewed on a six monthly basis at the rate of €93.17 per annum – the same sum paid since 1983. But whenever a structure became vacant, it was re-let again either through a call for tenders for a pe- riod not exceeding 10 years or else granted on encroachment terms for a period of one year. In such instances, the annual rent ranged between €108 and €1,200 per annum and could be renewed in ac- cordance with the conditions stipu- lated in the lease agreement. Through the new scheme those tenants who were granted land on encroachment terms may even see their rent decrease. This is because all owners will now be expected to pay €500. Occupants who presently do not have any legal title over the land in question can only apply for the new scheme if they are in possession of a "written agreement", presumably with a legitimate tenant, for the use of the structure. Made in the 1980s According to the ministry spokes- person the original owners were relocated to the Ghadira site from other sites in Ghadira. "During the 1980's a site at Ghadira Bay, Mellieha, was identified by the government with the aim of relocat- ing all the various structures scat- tered along Ghadira Bay, from areas which at the time were required for tourist embellishment". The site was to be used as a recreational area to be developed as a caravan site to house 237 structures. At the time, the gov- ernment had granted these sites on a lease period not to exceed 10 years on condition that tenants had to con- struct a room/structure or to place a caravan on each site allocated. The official version is disputed by informed sources who recall a "free for all" land grab which started in the late 1970s, which was effectively legalized by the government in the 1980s. The legal title granted to the beach room tenants was granted in terms of the Disposal of Government Land Act (Chapter 268) according to which "government land situated on the sea shore on which a room or any other building has been built or which is being used for the siting of a caravan thereon may be transferred by title of lease for not more than ten years at a rent fixed according to a valuation made by the Commission- er of Lands and which may in no case be less than €93.17 annually". The same article also stipulates that any such building should revert back to the government on the expiry of the lease without any right for com- pensation. This means that in 1993 the Nationalist government lost an opportunity to evict all tenants and revert the site to its natural state. 'More solid and longer lease' for Ghadira beach rooms Does Malta power sources? New scheme offers renewable 5-year lease to replace six-monthly extensions granted after 1993 Malta's energy mix will consist of two privately owned power stations and a state owned inter-connector. Will this give us more energy than we need – at present rates of demand – and how flexible are the power stations and their owners to match our real demands? By James Debono Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi (left) shakes hands with a Shanghai Electric representative after the signing of the agreement with the company Beach rooms at Ghadira