Italian firm fined €620,700

The Italian contractors entrusted with the Manwel Dimech Bridge reconstruction project will be fined over €620,700 for completing the job almost nine months behind schedule.

The Malta Transport Authority wrote to the contractors yesterday informing them that they were liable to a daily fine of just over €2,300 for a total of 267 days, The Times has learnt.

The letter pointed out that a six-week extension was conceded to finish the project in November 2007 but the job took till July 2008 to complete, almost nine months later.

The fine will be deducted from the government's pending payments to the contractor.

The Manwel Dimech Bridge project had been fraught with controversy because of delays in its completion. The €6 million job started in September 2006 and was originally expected to be completed within a year but the work took much longer.

The main thoroughfare was reopened to traffic in April 2008, €2.3 million over budget and after several delays and missed deadlines.

The controversy surrounding the project reached new heights some time after completion when Transport Minister Austin Gatt asked the police to investigate suspected fraud in the certification of the work carried out on the bridge. No other announcements had been made since.