Jun 29 - Spark: “This Has Never Been About Sour Grapes”
The Spark Group of Companies says that it stands by its decision to commission a report into the safety of an LNG facility in Gibraltar.
Spark rejects the claim that it did so either out of a feeling of “sour grapes” arising from having missed out on a tender or the promise of future commercial gain. Instead, says the company, it did so in the public interest.
A full statement from the company was released this afternoon:
“The Spark Group of Companies started its history in Gibraltar after Waterport power station blew up on 20th of April 2014. Spark was the only company that had agreed without any written agreement or upfront payment to assist Government at that time. Within only 4 days the first engines had arrived to Gibraltar and shortly after that, Spark began to provide electricity to the city. We came to help the elderly, kids, all Gibraltarians, gaming companies and other businesses when the power supply was in danger.
“Recently HM Government has been reporting about significant savings in fuel, about reduction of emissions and again saving in purchasing Carbon credits, but never has it been said that all this is only possible due to Spark’s brand new engines. On the contrary, now it has been insinuated that we were creating power cuts deliberately...
“We have always had a very good relationship with this Government and we have always welcomed and supported all their good ideas or initiatives.
“Spark Group of Companies denies ever tendering for the construction of the LNG Power Station or the LNG storage facility. Our companies were not even incorporated at the time when the application submission processes of both tenders closed.
“Spark did provide Government with our vision of building an LNG bunkering facility at the Detached Mole. As we said in one of our earlier public statements, we believe that there is a safe way and location for an LNG installation in Gibraltar. In this regard we note that the GSD is sceptical about the use of LNG whilst we are not.
“However, the information that we obtained at an early point was that the safety implications of such an installation at the Detached Mole or North Mole would not make it feasible. At no stage was our expression of interest rejected and therefore this has never been about sour grapes. Any suggestion to the contrary is strongly rejected. Indeed, Spark have a very lucrative contract with the Government in respect of the rental power stations so the suggestion that we have taken any steps to help anyone in exchange for favours is entirely false.
“We instructed Lloyd’s Register to produce a report in January this year. A draft was then provided that confirmed it was not safe to build an installation at the Detached or the North Mole. The final report was provided in June.
“Gibraltar is a vibrant democracy and the shareholders and directors of Spark have as much right to support or oppose any particular cause or support any particular party as anyone else. That is a constitutional right especially when it comes to people’s safety and the community. One of the shareholders in our companies and one of our directors have been long-standing members of the GSD.
“Given the concern regarding LNG storage at these locations we undertook to provide the GSD with the report. We strongly believe that it is in the interest of the community for the report to be made public and we can categorically deny any suggestion that anyone has promised us anything in return. That allegation is utterly false and defamatory. If it is repeated outside Parliament we will take appropriate action.
“It is also completely and utterly untrue that the report has been substantially redacted and neither have Lloyds, as they have confirmed to us, resiled from the conclusions in the report. It is also untrue that the report is based on a single skin tank. The specifications provided to us was for double skinned flat bottom low pressure tanks based on Government requirement for a minimum of 12,000 m3 storage.
“We call upon HM Government to make use of this report instead of creating a political battle, as it should have been done from the beginning. We kindly advise to inform companies that HM Government is working with in regards of this Project about the findings of the report in order for them to take it into consideration. We would like to remind everyone that the Report contains recommendations of how to proceed with this project. Recommendations which have been included not for rubbishing someone’s plans but to provide guidance.
“Despite very severe consequences for our companies for something that we have never done, facing constant defamatory allegations, we still believe that we made the correct decision of disclosing the report to the public.”
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