Midi reallocation cost €4.28 million

The government paid a total of €4,284,300 in reallocation costs so that Tigné Point and Manoel Island could be turned over to the Midi Consortium as vacant possessions.

Answering a parliamentary question by Silvio Parnis (PL), Finance Minister Tonio Fenech added there had been no expropriation costs because the land belonged to the government.

Rising on a supplementary question, Labour MP Leo Brincat asked what had become of Midi’s contractual obligation to construct a new football pitch on Manoel Island. Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi, deputising for Minister Fenech, said he would investigate and inform the House of the situation.

On another supplementary question, Labour MP Joe Mizzi asked if Dr Azzopardi was aware that a similar contractual obligation for a football pitch in Kalkara existed in the case of the Cottonera Waterfront developers.

Dr Azzopardi said things had been at a standstill until a few weeks ago, when talks had started with the two Cottonera consortia on pending matters. As a result, work had already started in the gaping hole in the ground next door to the Casino di Venezia, earmarked for a hotel. Work would also soon get under way on the restoration of the former residence of the Captain of the Fleet of the Order of St John.