THE ELECTRICITY Authority (EAC) yesterday dismissed parliament’s claims that £100 million had been wasted on coal-burning boilers sitting idle at the Vassiliko power station.
But Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis insisted there were questions needing answers and ordered an immediate probe. The “scandal” of the “unused” boilers surfaced at Monday’s House Finance Committee session.
The EAC yesterday insisted the committee had quite simply got its facts wrong. On Monday, both deputies and Rolandis came down hard on the EAC decision to shell out £100 million on building two boilers capable or running on both oil and coal.
The committee heard that the coal-burning capability had never been used and the authority was now proposing to spend an additional £50 to £60 million on support infrastructure for bringing coal to Vassiliko.
Rolandis told the committee coal was polluting and the island was now veering towards the natural gas option instead. Deputies were outraged at what they saw as a case of the EAC wishing to throw good taxpayer’s money after bad. The committee called for an investigation.
But the EAC put a rather different slant on things yesterday. Talk of £100 million being spent to give Vassiliko coal-burning capability was totally inaccurate, the authority said. “We spent only about eleven million extra to get bigger boilers that could burn coal too,” an EAC source told the Cyprus Mail, adding that the expenditure had been approved by parliament.
The coal-burning option might provide a power lifeline if crude prices continue to rise, the authority argues. “What could be wiser, especially now that we are all worried about the price of crude? I say we should have been attacked if we had not taken such a precaution,” the EAC source said.
The boilers’ coal-burning capacity could be brought into play whenever the state took the “political decision” to invest in on-site facilities for receiving and crushing coal, the authority stated. The EAC expressed exasperation that the issue of the idle boilers had resurfaced.
“It must be stressed for the umpteenth time that there is not and never has been any unused machinery at Vassiliko power station,” an EAC statement read. The two boilers, built in 1994, are being fully used for burning oil, the EAC stated.
But Rolandis came back at the EAC with a statement issued later in the day. The Minister acknowledged that the controversial boilers were being used and that the cost paid for the coal-burning capability had been about £10 million. But he added that it would cost £100 million to enable Vassiliko actually to use coal.
“The reason that the additional investments were made was for there to be an alternative solution in the event of problems with oil supply. But the non completion of the project makes the above investment void, especially when one takes into account the massive additional sum of £100 million needed to complete the project,” Rolandis stated. “In view of the questions raised at yesterday’s House finance committee, I have given instructions for a full, written report on the issue to be submitted to my office by 30 November,” the Minister added.
