Apr 24 - Government Says It Is Committed To “Resilient And Effective” Power Supply In The Future
The Government has hit back at the GSD Opposition in the latest row over Gibraltar’s power supply infrastructure. A statement from Number 6 released this afternoon says that, at a time when Gibraltar is pulling together against its detractors, certain local politicians have “seized the opportunity” to be “openly critical” of the Rock’s infrastructure without care or thought as to the impact of their statements on important sectors of our community.
The statement continues as follows:
It is ironic that these are the same politicians who had 16 years to resolve the problem of our power supply and failed, even though they promised the people a new power station in 2007! It is astonishing that they should believe the good people of Gibraltar will have forgotten that, when everyone knows the power station has been slowly falling apart for many many years. However, this Government remains totally committed to providing Gibraltar with a power supply that is both resilient and effective.
Following the power cuts on Sunday and Monday, much has been made of the fact that, in 2011, the previous administration had almost contracted for a new power station at Lathbury Barracks. That was on the back of their previous commitment to deliver a new power station by 2010, a commitment that went the way of most of what they promised! The proposed power station was based on an old-fashioned design and, being diesel-powered, it would have been environmentally dirty, increasingly expensive (probably twice as expensive to run as a gas-fired equivalent) and located on the Rock’s iconic southern skyline. Just the chimneys would have further ruined this view - in addition to defacing of the façade created by the Clifftops block allowed by the previous administration. Smoke belching from the power station’s 30 metre chimney would certainly have been an ugly eyesore for both residents and tourists alike. That would have been a twentieth century solution to Gibraltar's twenty-first century power needs! To make matters even worse, the cost to each consumer required a 100% increase in the cost of electricity!
In any case, the projected build-time for the Lathbury power station was a minimum of three years (ie 36 months) so it would not yet be up-and-running - as some completely misguided politicians have argued - and therefore our community would still be reliant on the old Waterport power-station. Indeed, without this Government installing an extra five turbines on the North Mole, there would have been more pressure on the old power station and, almost certainly, Gibraltar would have experienced many more power cuts, as was constantly the case when the previous administration were in office. Now, as has already been announced, a further sixteen engines have been leased and will soon be providing yet more capacity.
Within the next two years, the Rock will have a new, gas-fuelled power station which will use 21st century technology to produce, cleaner, cheaper energy. This will help reduce emissions and recurrent expenditure in one move - when the GSD proposal would have done the opposite! There will also be a new power distribution network with inbuilt system redundancy which is already being worked on.
Whilst some politicians were excited at and preparing for the opportunity of knocking Gibraltar and its infrastructure for personal gain, Government has over the bank holiday weekend been in direct personal contact with each member of our Gaming Community to better understand the impact on each of their businesses and offer support, understanding and also briefing them directly on Government’s plans for the short and medium term in respect of all of these issues. That interaction is ongoing and has been welcomed by the Gaming community. That is the business of responsible Government.
The same local politicians who criticised our infrastructure have also suggested that, by focussing on more than one project this Government is ‘jeopardising’ our power supply! Unlike its predecessor, this Government is not a one-man band and therefore it is much more capable of seeing the bigger picture and of moving forward on many fronts. And, if ever there was a single, biggest, most expensive ‘vanity project’ undertaken by a Gibraltar government that deprived the community of other projects it would surely be the airport which sucked in £84m - £60m more than originally budgeted.
Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said: "I guess the Opposition felt they had to say something about the explosion of Engine No1 at Waterport. They had a report since 2003 that told them Waterport had to be de-commissioned, and then they agreed that £7m earmarked for investment in the MoD's power infrastructure should be paid to Spanish pensioners. So, I suppose we should therefore not be surprised that they have just lashed out to try to avoid those issues without giving much thought to the damage they can cause Gibraltar with their ill-judged comments. The GSD don't want us to refer to the past because they know that is where there is well documented evidence of their failure to deliver the needed twenty-first century solution to Gibraltar's power needs as we are doing. This community is clever enough to see who is delivering the solutions it needs across the board and who spent 16 years basking in their political power without addressing the need for investment in our electrical power infrastructure!"
