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Kurt Sansone
The three Enemalta engineers being investigated for “gross irresponsibility” after gas cylinders on the market were found to be below EU standards should not be the only ones to bare the brunt of disciplinary measures according to a former manager of the State company’s Gas Division.
Voicing his concern at the impending gas shortage because of Enemalta’s decision to gradually withdraw the below-standard cylinders from the market, Edwin Cilia former Gas Division manager for over three decades and now a pensioner, was bewildered at how the tender had been awarded to the supplier from Gudja in the first place.
“The gas cylinders this particular supplier used to present whenever a tender was issued always failed to meet required specifications and hence had always been turned down in the past. The cylinders are made in Turkey and to my knowledge are sold nowhere else in Europe,” Cilia told MaltaToday.
“I cannot understand how the tender was awarded to him. What I find strange is that the engineers had recommended the tender be awarded to this supplier on the condition that he made specific changes on the final order.
“It was even reported that the supplier finally agreed to meet certain conditions but not all. How he was eventually chosen is beyond comprehension,” Cilia said.
But the former manager does not believe the buck should stop with the engineers who made the recommendation. “What the engineers did was wrong. If the cylinders did not meet the required specifications they should not have recommended this supplier. “But the engineers do not take the final decision. Somewhere along the chain of command somebody should have seen something was wrong especially since the supplier was recommended on condition that he made specific changes.
“It is unfair if the engineers are made scapegoats. The corporation’s permanent committee on tenders, the Enemalta board of directors and the Contract’s Committee have to answer for the impending shortage of gas cylinders as well.”
kurt@newsworksltd.com
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