Transport Minister Joe Mizzi this evening defended himself from accusations that the government had a plan to drive out Arriva and said that this was absolutely not the case.

Addressing another dialogue session in the series 'Gvern li Jisma', Mr Mizzi said that contrary to ongoing criticism, his government didn't want a situation where the bus service had to be reorganized from scratch. However he said that Arriva was adamant that it wanted to leave and the government had no other option than to face the music.

Mr Mizzi also denied that the government had a done deal over the new operator and said that many, including foreign companies, were showing an interest in the service.

"But let me make it clear. This is a big problem and we are not going to perform any miracles", he warned.

He said that the service currently being operated by Transport Malta was already more efficient than it was under Arriva. Backing his claim by statistics he said that the number of passengers increased by 200,000 passengers in the first month of this year she compared to January 2013. The number of complaints about the routes and punctuality was down.

Referring to criticism by Scottish operator McGills - which this week announced that it was no longer interested in bidding to operate the service – Mr Mizzi claimed that the real reason was that the Scottish company had not managed to raise the necessary funds for the bid.

Minister Mizzi said that the parking problem was also being tackled by Transport Malta and a comprehensive plan would soon be announced. An expression of interest for the operation of parking areas in Valletta and Cospicua would soon be published and be "open to all".

With regards to oil exploration, Mr Mizzi said that this area is being given a priority and after 10 years a new exploratory well would be drilled 130 kilometers in the south of Malta next month.

He said that various foreign companies were approaching the government showing interest to start exploring for oil and gas in Maltese areas and the government was holding talks on the granting of new acreage.

Turning to the roads, he said that planning was in an advanced stage for the rebuilding of various arterial roads including a new junction in Marsa, the Kappara junction and the coast road, which would have two lanes in either direction. An Iklin bypass road was also planned to ease traffic congestion..

He said that would on December 13 Road would be complete by the end of next month.