The news that there is one bidder for the whole of the Marsa Shipbuilding site is a double-edged sword.

It is, of course, a great relief to know that this project might actually get off the ground after so many failed starts. But it is undoubtedly a great disappointment that of the 28 companies that collected the documents, only six submitted bids. And it is even more of a disappointment that five bids are only for parts of the huge site – and probably all for the same, most obviously value-added parts of the site.

This means that the government is faced with two options: give it to the bidder willing to take the whole site; or give it to a few of the operators whose bids do not overlap – and be left with vast swathes of workshops and land that no one wants. Hardly the bustling maritime hub that it envisaged. Is there really a choice?

But having just one bidder is never ideal. It is hardly the strongest of bargaining positions for the government, even if the activities being proposed – oil and gas – could create a completely new economic activity.

Perhaps the word ‘new’ is misleading. Malta has handled many rigs in the past – but the potential goes well beyond what has been done so far, as the services that could be provided extend to the storage and maintenance of equipment, certification, as well as light engineering and administration.

Operators in this sector have already said clearly that this would only work if there is an “open shop” approach, allowing the client to choose their own contractors and to manage their own projects – something which rival Palumbo is clearly uncomfortable with.

If Marsa Shipbuilding were to develop into an oil and gas hub, it would certainly put pressure on Palumbo to re-think its strategy – and to ensure it has enough alternative sources of work, from commercial ships and cruise liners, to superyachts.

There is also another category of work which has completely slipped off the radar: navy ships – in particular, American navy ships. There was a time a decade ago when we had a dozen visits a year. Has anyone noticed that there were only two visits in 2012, one at the end of 2013 and one in January 2014 – but nothing since? One of the ships that had work done here in 2012, the USS Mt Whitney, is due for an overhaul worth several million dollars this winter. Did Malta even get a look in?

The Sixth Fleet spent €26 million on around 275 port visits alone in 2013, and the US Navy spends an average of €2-3 million in the Mediterranean on maintenance each and every day.

Both the Nationalist and Labour Parties are against a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which provides clarity over the rights of foreign personnel on Maltese soil and establishes the US courts’ jurisdiction over very specific crimes. There are dozens of SOFA – including with neutral countries like Austria and Sweden – and contrary to assumptions, each can be different.

US Navy ships have visited for both rest and recreation and for maintenance in the past – so it is possible for work to be done without a SOFA. But the absence of any such visits for months now should be generating questions about whether the US is willing to go through the hassle this entails.

There is no doubt that SOFAs are controversial and a few isolated incidents have generated bad press. But the risk of an actual problem has to be put into context and weighed against the economic gain.

Does it make sense to plough ahead into new sectors at the expense of others that could be just as lucrative?