A woman bid €105,000 for a licence to operate a taxi and was one of 20 people who between them paid €1.12 million for new taxi permits granted by Transport Malta yesterday.

The new licences are part of the reform of the taxi sector, which will bring about a total of 50 new licences by 2012. At present, there are 200 licences in Malta and 50 in Gozo.

As the bidding process opened at noon at the recently-bombed Transport Malta’s offices in Sa Maison, only 58 of the 72 who satisfied the set criteria and who had expressed interest actually submitted their bid.

The highest was the woman’s €105,000 bid, followed by one for €80,000. The rest of the licences were awarded for lesser amounts, with the lowest bid being €40,000, double the minimum set by Transport Malta.

The lowest bid had to be drawn by lot because there were five people who offered the same amount for the last licence.

The bids were opened at a public session in the presence of Transport Malta officials, government notaries, the public and the media.

The winning bidders are now expected to apply for the actual registration of the taxi for which the new taxi licence will be issued. This has to be submitted within six months.

A Transport Malta spokesman said the new taxi licences will only be issued to the accepted bidders on condition that the vehicles they present for registration conform to all the conditions set out in the regulations for the registration of new taxis.