Manwel Dimech bridge: Ministry does not exclude independent audit

The Infrastructure Ministry said this evening that while it had requested a detailed report from the Transport Authority on the Manwel Dimech bridge project, it was not excluding other audit procedures.

The ministry was replying to a statement by the Labour Party which earlier today wondered how the ministry could have requested a report on the causes of the project’s problems from the ADT when it was directly involved.

The ministry pointed out that work by the contractor was not completed yet and the first priority was therefore the completion of the work.

Furthermore, as announced a few days ago, the ADT has been instructed to seek its legal interests, something which the MLP made no reference to.

The ministry felt it was appropriate that the ADT should be given the first opportunity to explain what shortcomings could have brought about the unacceptable delays in the completion of the project. At no stage had the government excluded other audit procedures however.

The ministry said that even if the MLP’s allegations of breach of ethics regarding contractual obligations were to hold some basis of fact, that still would not explain the project’s delays.