When will Dar Malta welcome new tenants?

The company entrusted by the government with the promotion and renting of Dar Malta in Brussels is not yet in a position to say when the controversial building will finally welcome new tenants.

The government wants to rent out four of the nine available floors, measuring a total of 2,110 square metres.

A spokesman for the Finance Ministry said that following the call for rent issued last April, a number of interested private companies had contacted Business Space - the company entrusted with the rental of this prime site property.

"Currently there are three companies which are conducting negotiations with Business Space to acquire parts of the office space available for rent. However, nothing is concluded yet as negotiations are still ongoing," the spokesman told The Sunday Times.

Business Space - a renowned real estate management company in Brussels - has been given a one year contract on an exclusive basis to attract and rent Dar Malta's available office space. The company is also promoting the rental of one of the three available underground parking floors with a capacity of 16 car spaces.

The ministry spokesman said there is still no information as to how much the government is expecting to earn from leasing this office space.

Office space in the Dar Malta area - situated in Rue Archimede, metres from the main square of the EU quarter in Brussels and across from the building hosting the headquarters of the European Commission - is considered to be one of the most expensive in the European capital.

According to various real estate agencies, the price of property in this area in the past five years has increased by an average of 10 per cent.

Rents have also increased by a nominal two per cent per year.

The extra floors are to be leased on short term contracts and will eventually be used by the Maltese administration when Malta assumes special EU functions, such as the Presidency of the EU. According to the current EU Treaty, Malta is to hold the six-month rotating presidency during the first six months of 2017.

Earlier this year, overall responsibility for the Dar Malta premises, which currently hosts some 60 officers serving the Maltese Permanent Representation to the EU and the Belgian embassy to Belgium, was transferred from the Finance Ministry to MIMCOL - a government agency taking care of all government investments.

The purchase of the building stirred controversy in 2004 after it transpired that the government had forked out €20.9 million, the highest sum of the 10 new member states at the time. The government had said that it was always its intention to lease part of the building as this will compensate for the initial investment.

Dar Malta opened its doors in February 2007 following extensive refurbishment works, which transformed the building into state-of-the-art offices.