The Government will present the lease agreement for St Philip’s Hospital in Parliament tomorrow, though the controversial contract may be signed by then.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday said the agreement would be presented to the Public Accounts Committee.

“The final details of the agreement are still being thrashed out. If these are not finalised the Government will present a draft to the PAC,” Dr Gonzi said during a courtesy visit to the offices of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses.

When pressed to say what would happen if the agreement was finalised before tomorrow, Dr Gonzi said it would be signed.

This means the PAC could start discussing the agreement after the event.

The chairman of the PAC, Labour MP Charles Mangion, last week called for a specific session of the committee to discuss the contract. The Opposition, independent MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Nationalist MP Franco Debono have called on the Government to submit the contract for parliamentary scrutiny before it is signed. The Government wants to lease the 100-bed disused private hospital for eight years and use it as a rehabilitation facility.

It will pay €850,000 per year with an option to buy it for €12.4 million from the third year.

Dr Gonzi said the hospital had several advantages, such as its proximity to Mater Dei Hospital, its readiness for use and the possibility to expand it in the future.

St Philip’s Hospital owner Frank Portelli, a former Nationalist MP, has insisted the hospital could start receiving patients within a matter of weeks.

But Alternattiva Demokratika spokesman Carmel Cacopardo last week shed doubt on the possibility of expanding the facility to a 280-bed hospital.

He said the available land area and parking facilities were problematic and the only way to increase the number of beds was to pull down the structure and rebuild it.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com