Ministry denial on property sale

The Ministry for Public Investments has denied that the sale of government properties in St Julians has anything to do with the Brindisi port venture.

Replying to comments made by Opposition leader Alfred Sant on the closure of the Brindisi Harbour project, the ministry said neither was it true that the Maltese government had been subsidising the Port of Brindisi.

The government had guaranteed lending by a Maltese bank in order to assume a loan from Italian banks at a high rate of interest.

The government had done so to save expenses it would otherwise have had to make following the failure by Papalini srl, the majority shareholding of Brindisi Terminal Italia SpA. This guarantee amounted to Lm6 million, and not Lm4m as claimed.

The ministry said Dr Sant was quoting the total supplementary vote allocated to the ministry when only part of it was allocated to guarantee Malta Freeport's debt as a result of Brindisi Terminal failure.

The ministry also pointed out that investment in the Brindisi terminal project was conceived and started by the Sant government between 1997-98 and it was Dr Sant, as prime minister, who had identified Papalini srl as partners of Malta Freeport in this venture.

The ministry also recalled that the Sant government wanted to replace Pender Place and Mercury House with a 65-storey tower having 350 luxury apartments.