China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) Limited, the company which is to conduct a feasibility study on the building of a Malta-Gozo bridge, had been blacklisted by the World Bank in 2011 for fraudulent practices in a roads project in The Philippines.
The Bank had at the time announced the debarment of the company and its subsidiaries making them ineligible to engage in any road and bridge projects financed by the World Bank Group until January 12, 2017.
"This action is based on recent changes in the World Bank sanctions system to clarify that successor organizations – through purchase or reorganization – will be subject to the same sanctions applied to the original firm," the Bank had said.
China Communications Construction Corporation Limited was the same company that built the dock number six, the largest in the Mediterranean, 30 years ago. It offered to finance the €4 million cost of the bridge feasibility study, which will take 15 months.
The agreement was signed last week in the presence of the prime minister.