Labour calls for inquiry into bridge project delays

Labour leader Alfred Sant has called for an inquiry into the delays and possible overruns in the Manwel Dimech bridge reconstruction project, a challenge Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett readily accepted, saying he had no problem answering questions before a legally appointed committee.

Dr Sant said the bad management of the bridge's reconstruction was symptomatic of the way all government projects were being handled. He demanded an inquiry presided by a magistrate or a judge. It was a choice Minister Mugliett said, in a reaction statement, he found cur-ious, given that Parliament's Public Accounts Committee is chaired by a member of the Opposition.

Dr Sant had specifically mentioned that he was referring to a judicial or magisterial inquiry and not one conducted by the Public Accounts Committee.

Giving a timeline for the project since the government first an-nounced plans to have it rebuilt, he said there had been delays both before the project started and during the actual rebuild.

In October 2005, Mr Mugliett had told Parliament that work would start by January 2006, ending a year later. Yet work only started in earnest in October 2006.

In an interview with The Times last October, the minister had expressed confidence that the extension of working hours granted by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority would help ensure the bridge was completed "well within schedule, maybe even before", which at the time meant September this year.

However, a couple of months ago it emerged that the project was facing further delays. Despite bumping the deadline by another two months to November, it now seems clear that the work is unlikely to be finished by then.

The second carriageway on which work has now begun would need to be rebuilt in half the time it took to complete the first carriageway if the project is to meet its November target date.

Minister Mugliett however is now non-committal on both the date and on whether the costs would exceed the budgeted funds, Dr Sant said.

On this point, he took a jibe at the fact that a previous on-site billboard, which gave September as the completion date, has now been replaced with one that gives no completion date.

Mr Mugliett defended the Malta Transport Authority (ADT), saying it could not be accused of mismanagement in any way. He said that it did not have control over the adjudication of the tender and that the delays on the construction of the bridge were the result of the complexities of this particular project.

He stressed that the reconstruction of the bridge is not a project local contractors are accustomed to.

A report, produced by the contractors at the ADT's request, now puts the completion date at June 2008. However, the minister said, this has not yet been accepted.

Perhaps pre-empting the ministerial defence, Dr Sant said during his press conference that he could understand if this were the first such project, "but there is a clear pattern here, where government projects not only take too long to start and too long to finish but also end up costing taxpayers much more than projected".

In this vein, he also highlighted that the company that had been awarded the contract for the new bridge designs belonged to the minister's former partner, Robert Sant.

However, the minister rebutted this accusation, saying he had nothing to do with the company (owned by Robert Sant) that was awarded the contract.

Dr Sant said that Labour had enquired in Parliament whether Mr Sant's company shares the same staff as the company which he shares with the minister (Sant and Mugliett) but received no reply.