Transport Malta has issued a call for tenders for civil works in connection with the construction of the €12 million Ċirkewwa ferry terminal, complementing the facilities in Mġarr, Gozo.

Major construction works are expected to start at the end of this year and the whole project should be completed by the end of 2012.

The terminal will include a passenger handling building together with elevated foot passenger gangways to the ships, vehicle marshalling and parking areas, a coach and public transport terminus, circulation and access roadways linked to the main arterial road network and a new police station. Existing quays will be upgraded, including putting the third berth at the north quay into operation, apart from other general enhancements.

The terminal will also host one of the largest photovoltaic arrays in Malta. Another first will be the installation of a wind turbine at the south side of the port.

Works are under way for temporary facilities that will include a passenger shelter, public toilets, a passenger drop-off point, a bus terminus and improved pedestrian walkways and signage.

Preparatory works to lay underground services and construct new kerbs, barriers, road markings and signage are also under way.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority had issued a development permit for the building of the new terminal in December.

In January, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said in Parliament the terminal would cost €18.6 million. The Mġarr terminal, completed in 2007, had cost €11.8 million.

The Ċirkewwa terminal project has been in the pipeline for over a decade.