Opera house partial roof proposal 'final' - fishmarket to become hotel

The new public transport tender should be adjudicated by June, unless there are objections and appeals, Transport Minister Austin Gatt said this morning.

The minister, who was speaking on the work carried out by his ministry in the second year of the legislature said technical work on the offer was currently in hand and this should be concluded by the end of March and the beginning of April.

The minister spoke on the projects proposed for the entrance to Valletta said that that the proposal of a partial roof for the former opera house was final and not going to change.

He said that his ministry’s landmark in the past year was the agreement with bus drivers which would lead to an increase in frequency, more routes and a better public transport system. Better buses should also lead to lower emissions. The minister pointed out that 10 per cent of the total territory had excessive air pollution and this was one of the steps to decrease this.

There had also been the liberalisation of the unscheduled bus service and hearses and the introduction of water taxis.

Taxi and horse drawn carriage reforms still had to be carried out, Dr Gatt said.

He said he should be in a position to announce the taxi reform by June.

On roads, Dr Gatt said that a good number had been done up including the Marsascala bypass, which cost €9 million and Valletta Road in Zurrieq, which cost €4.4 million. Work had also started work on 16 kilometres of arterial roads as part of the Ten-T project. These cost € 62 million.

A total 16.6 kilometres of link and distributor roads and 2.4 kilometres of residential roads were also done up but 250 roads remained on the list drawn up by former minister Jesmond Mugliett.

On the freeport, Dr Gatt said there was a slight drop in container movements due to the recession but the situation was very comparable to the previous year. Since privatisation, the French company that took over invested €141 million and it was to invest another €80 million over the next few years. There are 1,258 workers at the Freeport.

The minister also spoke on Smart City, where a 12,000 square metre block was scheduled to open on October 10, one year ahead of time. A joint marketing campaign had been embarked upon to attract Asian, European, Australian and Middle Eastern companies.

Dr Gatt said there were four applications before Mepa for the restoration of Fort St Elmo. Once these were approved, EU funds would be applied for. There was an application for the installation of a lift to the Upper Barrakka, while the pixkerija (fishmarket) buildings were to be transformed into a boutique hotel.

Three tenders had been submitted for new temporary yacht marinas in Kalkara, Ta’Xbiex and Xemxija and there was the possibility of a new marina in Sa Maison.