Transport Minister Joe Mizzi.Transport Minister Joe Mizzi has refused to commit to a date by which the new bus operator will take over the service.
“The process is under way and we hope to complete it as soon as possible,” he said when asked.
Two weeks ago, the Transport Ministry announced that Spanish company Autobuses Urbanos de Leon had been selected as the preferred bidder to operate Malta’s public transport services.
The firm is a subsidiary of the ALSA Group, a leading Spanish transport company with a fleet of 2,300 buses which carry more than 183 million passengers per year.
Sources said its offer was €20 million cheaper than that of the Maltese bidders, who requested an annual subsidy of some €42 million.
The Transport Ministry was already in talks with the company before it was declared the preferred bidder, even receiving a visit by Mr Mizzi at its headquarters.
The trip to Spain was criticised by Opposition transport spokesman Anthony Bezzina, who said Mr Mizzi’s meetings breached the conditions laid down in the call for expressions of interest.
But Mr Mizzi said he was in Spain to verify some technical aspects of the bid.
Asked on Wednesday evening at what stage the adjudication process had reached, Mr Mizzi gave a curt reply, saying: “The process is under way.”
In reply to whether there was a tentative date to have the new transport operator in place, Mr Mizzi said: “In the shortest time possible.”
The public transport service was nationalised at the beginning of the year when Arriva, the previous operator, pulled out and transferred all its assets to the government.
Malta Public Transport Services Ltd, which took over the service, spent more than €7 million in the first two months of operation.
The company was paying more than €35,000 a day to rent coaches to replace the bendy buses withdrawn from service after several of them caught fire.
When Mr Mizzi was asked how much the company was spending on the service and the losses being incurred, he said the losses were lower than Arriva’s.