Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/879686
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2017 4 News ENEMALTA has started dis- mantling the HFO-fired pow- er plant at Delimara and its 150-metre chimney. A few days ago, the com- pany's demolition contractors cut and removed the two large exhaust pipes connecting the plant's heavy fuel oil (HFO) boilers to the chimney. At the same time, other workers started dismantling the first of the two boilers as well. The year-long project includes the complete demolition of the concrete and steel chimney, weighing almost 9,000 tonnes or the equivalent of 6,000 cars, as well as the plant's boilers, turbines and other auxiliary installations. Once dismantled, the plant's materials will be carefully separated on site before they are carted away to authorised disposal sites. Over 5,400 cu- bic metres of concrete and other construction waste are expected to be removed from the site. Another 5,300 tonnes of metal will be exported for recycling. The 1992 120 MW Delimara 1 power station was switched off and put on cold standby in April this year, before it was fully decommissioned on 1 September. A few days later, the Italian demolition contrac- tors selected for this project started delivering the heavy machinery and other equip- ment required to dismantle the plant. The plant's chimney struc- ture comprises a cylindrical concrete shield rising up 50 storeys, with a base diameter of 12 metres. The concrete walls are 80 centimetres thick at the bottom and 30 centime- tres on top. Inside the concrete structure there are two 2.3 metre steel exhaust pipes that emitted the smoke produced by the oil-fired boilers. The dismantling process started with the removal of the lowermost part of these two steel pipes, which connect the chimney to the boilers. The remaining metal pipes, ladders and platforms higher up inside the chimney will be lowered to ground level using strand jacks, so that they can be safely dismantled on the ground. At the same time, outside the chimney concrete walls, the contractors will soon start erecting an auto-lifting plat- form on five steel columns rising to the topmost part of the structure. Once all the metal inside the structure is removed, remote-controlled demolition robots on top of the platform will start pulling down the top 1.5 metres of the concrete walls. The platform will then be lowered 1.5 me- tres for the demolition robots to continue the demolition. All debris will reach the base of the chimney through the chimney itself, to minimise dust disper- sion. It will then be loaded on trucks at ground level. This process will be repeated approximately 80 times un- til the chimney is reduced to 35 metres. At this point, the platform will be dismantled and the remaining part of the stack will be demolished using a high reach demolition exca- vator from ground level. Ing. Fredrick Azzopardi, Enemalta plc executive chair- man, explained that the com- pany's engineers, architects and other employees are monitoring the process and assisting the demolition con- tractor to make sure that the dismantling works do not dis- rupt the security and opera- tion of the other power plants nearby, which will continue generating the electricity re- quired to meet the country's demand. Enemalta is commit- ted to complete this project as soon as possible, yet without putting at risk the health and safety of the workers involved and with the least possible im- pact on the environment and nearby localities. "We are currently also dis- mantling the last few struc- tures of the Marsa power station, which was fully de- commissioned earlier this year as well. Once we complete the dismantling of Delimara 1, we would have completely removed the last remain- ing HFO-fired plants which we depended on until a few months ago. Instead, we are now meeting the country's demand through a diversified, efficient mix of low emission gas-fired plants, the Malta- Italy Interconnector and grid- connected renewable energy sources," Azzopardi said. Delimara chimney and HFO boilers being torn down MATTHEW AGIUS A court has acquitted John Camilleri, brother of the noto- rious Emmanuel Camilleri (Leli il-bully), of conspiracy to import cocaine and marijuana due to insufficient evidence, despite the magistrate remarking that he was "morally convinced" that the accused had been involved in the criminal enterprise. Camilleri, 49 from Mqabba, had been charged with conspir- ing to traffic/import drugs in 2002, after a large consignment of cocaine and marijuana from Holland, destined for Malta, was intercepted in Sicily in Decem- ber 2001. The Police had been informed that several people, including some prison inmates, had used their foreign contacts to help set up the shipment. One sus- pect was John Camilleri, whose brother Emanuel, known as Leli l-Bully, was suspected of having masterminded the operation from his jail cell. Investigations had revealed that Emmanuel Camilleri had been communicating with in- dividuals in Holland, who were planning to ship a large quan- tity of cocaine and marijuana to Malta. Emmanuel had also been in contact with several people from Malta to make arrangements for payment and plans had reached an advanced stage before being foiled by the arrest of several conspirators in Sicily. The consignment of two kilo- grammes of cocaine, one kilo- gramme of heroin and 2,000 ecstasy tablets was seized in Sic- ily before they could be sent on the final leg of their journey to Malta. Emmanuel Camilleri was ar- rested and later charged in court in connection with the opera- tion. John Camilleri had been arrested after the police inves- tigation discovered that he had been contacted by his brother to assist in the transfer of a large amount of money to several peo- ple involved in the criminal or- ganisation. The court had been told that Camilleri accepted the instruc- tions, received in a telephone call from his brother Emmanuel, whilst well aware of the reasons for the transfer. Several members of the group planning to import the drugs were arrested, including John Camilleri. Camilleri's defence lawyer, Joe Brincat argued that his client's in- itial statement should be deemed inadmissible as he had not been allowed to consult a lawyer prior to his interrogation. This right was introduced in Malta in 2010, but has since been applied retrospectively by a number of judgments of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Magistrate Francesco Depas- quale upheld the objection and declared the statement to be in- admissible. However, records of telephone calls and other communication were allowed as evidence be- cause they were seized on the strength of a warrant approved by the Home Affairs Minister of the time. The court observed that these showed Camilleri to have been in "regular communication" with people involved in the abortive crime, including Ray- mond Borg (il-Borza), Charles Steven Muscat (il-Pips) and Mario Camilleri (l-Imniehru). Muscat and Camilleri had been in prison at the time they had been communicating with the accused, using mobile phones – which are a prohibited item for prison inmates, as well as with a Dutch contact. In his judgment clearing Camilleri of the charges, Mag- istrate Depasquale remarked that although he was "morally convinced" of the accused's in- volvement in the entire criminal operation, to the extent that he had also invested his own money in it, the prosecution's evidence, hamstrung as it was by the in- admissibility of the man's state- ment, was insufficient to over- come reasonable doubt. Man's body recovered from sea off Rabat Leli l-Bully's brother acquitted of drug charges after Court ruled statement inadmissable T HE body of a man was recovered yesterday from the sea in the ar- ea know as Migra l-Ferha, in the limits of Rabat. Police said that they were called on site at around 3.45pm. The body was recovered soon after. The man has not yet been identified. Duty Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ordered an in- quiry and appointed a number of experts to assist. Police investigations are con- tinuing.