Some €55 million will be invested in upgrading Malta’s energy infrastructure in 2024, half of which are EU funds, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said on Wednesday.
Dalli was taking questions following a press conference about budget measures aimed at enterprise and investment. The conference included a visit to the premises of De La Rue in Bulebel, where an expansion project expected to create 100 new jobs is currently underway.
Following a summer of unusually long powercuts that swept across the majority of the country, Prime Minister Robert Abela promised social partners in July that the budget allocation for upgrading the energy distribution network would double.
However, budget estimates seemed to indicate that the specific line item dedicated to the electricity distribution network (5357) only showed a marginal increase in planned spending from €14.75 million to €14.8 million.
Asked to explain this discrepancy, Dalli said that additional funds allocated under different line items would also be dedicated to upgrading the national power grid.
Some €28 million would be coming through EU funds under the European Commission’s REPower EU strategy, while an additional €12 million was marked under the budget line item 7450 as “energy infrastructure”.
“Our plan is that all of this money is spent next year, as we had promised the MCESD,” Dalli said.
“This is so that we can keep strengthening the general infrastructure that deals with the distribution and generation of electricity.”
€60 million for businesses and start-ups
Speaking about the government’s plans to continue supporting the business community, Dalli said that the decision to continue subsidising fuel has saved industries some €370 million in electricity bills.
This, she said, has enabled the economy to grow ten times larger than the European average.
Government support like this had contributed to international companies like De La Rue choosing to expand their operations in Malta, she added.
As part of its commitment to support sustainable business practices based on innovation in the blue and green economies, Dalli said the government has pledged €60 million to support businesses and start-ups investing in research and innovation, skills, digitisation and energy efficiency.
These will be disbursed through schemes by Malta Enterprise and will include the continuation of existing schemes such as Business Development, Business Start, Innovate – Innovation Aid for SMEs, Rent Subsidy Scheme, Research and Development, Skills Development, Smart and Sustainable Investment, Start-Up Finance Scheme, Micro Invest and the Get Qualified scheme, among others.
