Sewage tender stinks, company claims

A foreign company yesterday filed a judicial protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court complaining about the manner in which a call for tenders for sewage treatment in the north of Malta had been handled by the Water Services Corporation and the Director of Contracts.

Resco SRL claimed that the call for tenders had not taken place by public offer as stipulated by both local and EU law.

The corporation had failed to issue a public call for tenders for the project but had contacted different companies and entities in Italy so that these could apply for the tender.

The sewage treatment project was a large tender involving millions of euros and it therefore ought to have been handled by a public call for tenders within the EU, the company said.

This was the procedure that had been adopted for a similar tender in Gozo. Respondents' actions, the company submitted, were illegal and abusive and gave rise to suspicion about the award of this tender.

Resco SRL called for the tender process to start anew and held respondents liable in damages as a result of their actions.

Dr Anna Mallia signed the protest.