Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/487054
maltatoday, Sunday, 29 March 2015 10 James Debono The considerable parcel of land oc- cupied by the decommissioned Marsa power station has been identified for future commercial development, ac- cording to a project development statement submitted to the Malta en- vironment and Planning Authority. enemalta plc, the partly-privatised corporation that now has Shanghai electric Power among its sharehold- ers, was granted the temporary em- phyteusis on the Marsa land in Au- gust last year. The energy company has not how- ever revealed the price it is paying for the land, or the duration of the lease on the 32,000 square metres of land. And a request for the public deed, made to the Government Property Department, whose notary should have provided it with no questions asked, was kicked to the Office of the Prime Minister. enemalta claims the price of the acquisition was set in 2012 when a Special Vehicle Fund was set up to restructure enemalta's debts and when the company was then still fully owned by the Maltese government. The deed transferring the land to enemalta was signed a few days be- fore the publication of a legal notice that turned enemalta into a public limited liability company last August. had the law come into effect before the transfer, the government would not have been able to transfer the land just by a public deed. Crucially, the legal notice exempted the lands transferred to enemalta from customary rules that govern the disposal of public land, which can only be transferred to third parties by a parliamentary resolution or by pub- lic tender. The law exempted any land owned by enemalta plc or its successors, from the Disposal of Government Land Act (DGLA), meaning that such land transfers do not require any further authorisation in terms of the DGLA. MaltaToday's request for the deed transferring the land in Marsa from the government to enemalta has not been acceded to by either enemalta or the Government Property Depart- ment. A spokesperson for enemalta said the corporation "availed itself of the provisions of its agreement with Vault Finance Ltd to acquire the temporary emphyteusis for the Mar- sa Power Station site… The price [was] pre-established in the 2012 agreement with Vault Finance Ltd." Vault Finance is the SPV created by the previous administration to ad- dress enemalta's debts in 2012. Future use of land A project development statement presented by enemalta to MePA states that "the closure of Marsa power station will create an area of at least 32,000m2 (excluding the area on top of Jesuit hill) for possible al- ternative use and development for commercial activities." But according to enemalta no de- cision has yet been taken on the use of the Marsa site once the existing electricity generation structures are dismantled. "The company is focus- ing on decommissioning and dis- mantling the power station. Consul- tations and concept of operation are currently underway." Only when the site is cleared will the company be in a position to as- sess its future use. "This evaluation will take into consideration various factors, including the position of the site within the Grand harbour and all national policies and plans for this area. Public consultation will be held as applicable by law for similar developments." MePA will be issuing a permit for the dismantlement and decommis- sioning of the Marsa power station on 2 April, a week before local elec- tions take place in the locality. The date was moved a week forward from its original 9 April deadline. The decommissioning can take place only following the issue of an Integrated Pollution Prevention Control (IPPC) permit, which will be issued at a later stage. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt News enemalta eyes commercial development on marsa land Marsa power plant land was leased to Enemalta just before law turned corporation into a public limited company matthew Vella MALTA'S hosting of companies re- lated to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (Irisl) will return to the spotlight as the european Union pre- pares to reinstate sanctions against 40 Iranian shipping companies. In a bid to turn up the heat against Tehran over its nuclear programme, the eU's prime ministers – through the eU Council – sent a letter to the shipping firms' lawyer, Maryam Taher, claiming that the sanctions were down to the companies being owned or controlled by the blacklisted Irisl. In 2010, Malta was at the centre of a network of shell companies that Irisl used to stash its vessels in a bid to circumvent international trading bans applied by the United States and the United Kingdom. At least 20 com- panies registered at various Maltese addresses had principals who were Irisl officials, and registered owners of ships that were owned by Irisl but were now operated by a private, Ira- nian company – the hafiz Darya Ship- ping Lines (hDS). Using hDS, Iran managed to change the ownership of Irisl's container busi- ness after it was blacklisted over its al- leged role in supplying Iran's suspect nuclear weapons programme. hDS became the ship manager of various Malta-flagged ships that pre- viously belonged to Irisl, but which Malta companies in Iran The Marsa power station, now decommissioned