Nationalist Party MP and energy spokesperson Mark Anthony Sammut has compared Malta to Pakistan due to Enemalta resorting to rationing electricty, as the spate of power cuts in the country goes on.
Malta has now undergone three nights of power outages in different localities due to continuous faults in the electrical distribution system, leaving thousands without power. Areas in Naxxar, Mosta, and Żebbug are amongst the worst hit.
In a statement on Thursday, the PN questioned whether or not Prime Minister Robert Abela is being truthful in his explanations for the power failures, and criticised the way the Prime Minister and the Minister for Energy and Enterprise Miriam Dalli are handling the situation.
The PN said that Enemalta has resorted to using the extreme measure of “load shedding”, thereby resulting in cases where even people who are residing in areas where cable damage has not occurred are being cut off from service so that the system could cope with the demand.
The PN’s spokesperson for energy Mark Anthony Sammut went on to say that power service is essentially being rationed, likening Malta’s situation to “as if we were living in Pakistan.”
Sammut, an engineer by profession, said that the Minister should stop insulting the intelligence of the people and stop speaking nonsense. He disputed the reasoning being provided and said that cables two or three feet underground would not feel the heat above ground unless lava had begun flowing through the streets.
He said that the heat within the cables is heat which is generated by the current load on the system, which is caused by a greater use of electricity as a result of people trying to keep cool in the hot weather, coupled with greater use as a result of an increase in population caused by a Government which did not think about the infrastructure.
The MP remarked that after all the boasting about the energy and the supposed investments that had been made to stop these problems from happening again, we ended up with a system that has been brought down to its knees.
He concluded by expressing gratitude for Enemalta’s workers and acknowledging their dedication and sacrifice to get service returned to those experiencing outages, and said that they, along with the Maltese and Gozitan citizens, are paying the price for incompetence and corruption.