The owner of a US company that has submitted a proposal to Malta Shipyards for the building of a hull for an undersea resort ship said yesterday that unless he gets a quotation from the yard, he would be going direct to the Prime Minister with an offer to take over the shipyard.

The Cala Corporation wants to build a number of undersea resort ships - floating hotels with suites, casinos and restaurants offering an underwater view.

Joseph Cala said his Florida-based Cala Corporation would offer to lease the yard for 30 to 50 years to build a ship a year at the former Marsa shipbuilding yard, generating 3,000 new jobs.

The project, he said, would mean $500 million a year in direct investment. When the proposal for the building of the ship was first made to Malta Shipyards, the chief executive officer, Chris Bell, had said it was not possible for the shipyards to move forward on the proposal unless it was assured that the project was technically achievable.

But Mr Cala insisted yesterday the project's design was in line with the strict rules of Lloyd's of London and the American Bureau of Shipping.

He added that potential buyers of the ships included Sotheby, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Oracle and Apple.

He was confident the Maltese shipyard could build the vessels because, he said, what was being asked for was a shell, "almost a barge and extremely simple to build". He also insisted that his organisation could issue billions of dollars in the form of stocks or bonds.

"The key is to have a project that investment bankers love," he said, adding that if the ship was built in Malta the corporation would also be listed on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Cala would also be using other shipyards besides Malta but while Malta could start work immediately, other shipyards had full order books and could not start building the ships before 2011-2013.

Mr Cala said the General Workers' Union had now been involved and a meeting would be held tomorrow between its general secretary, Tony Zarb, Malta Enterprise, Mr Bell and himself.

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