Ministry says bus owners gearing for competition

The Transport Ministry said today that it welcomed reports that the Bus Owners’ Association (ATP) was gearing up for competition by holding talks with potential Maltese investors and an international transport operator with a view to linking up in a consortium to submit a bid for the bus service.

The ministry was reacting to an earlier statement by the ATP.

It said that the Belgian Ambassador to Malta had sought a meeting with Minister Austin Gatt to discuss what she thought were government plans to issue a tender for the purchase of 300 buses. The minister turned down the request because he could not meet anyone to discuss government tenders and because the government was not planning to buy buses anyway.

The ambassador knew that Malta was bound by EU public procurement laws and ministers were not involved in the selection of contractors when tenders were issued, the ministry said. It hoped that the ATP statement did not mean that the association had no clue about correct behaviour by companies wishing to bid for government contracts in a competitive process.