A Transport Malta lawyer said  in court this afternoon that the €23 million government subsidy promised to Spanish operator Autobuses de Leon was a pro-rata payment for the transitional period and the actual annual subsidy would be substantially higher once the full service, with new routes, was rolled out.   

Louis Degabriele confirmed that €23 million was being offered to the Spanish company, with which negotiations are under way. He said this figure covered the first period of service, with the subsidy expected to climb once the Spanish company started to implement the new routes Transport Malta was expecting of it. 

Although no figure was mentioned, for reasons of business confidentiality, the court heard that Maltese company Island Buses Malta Limited had asked for €40 million. 

The details emerged during submissions on an application for an injunction filed by Island Buses against Transport Malta and the Transport Ministry in an attempt to stop it from concluding any deal or signing an agreement on the provision of the new bus service.  

Lawyer Nicholas Valenzia, appearing for Island Buses, claimed that the entire process to choose the operator of the new public transport service was "null" and "vitiated" from the outset as the transport watchdog had shifted the goalposts and was now discussing aspects of the bid that they had not been told could be discussed. 

"We are saying the process was null from the word go. Had we known of these possibilities, we would have submitted a different bid. The court ought not to turn down our request because it would be condoning something irregular," he said.

Moreover, he claimed, Autobuses de Lyon were being given more than the three months stipulated in the call for expressions of interest to start providing a new service.

He said the €23 million mentioned by Mr Mizzi had been included in the budget for 2015 and no more had been allocated. This meant that the Spanish company had an entire year to start providing the full service, as opposed to the three months his clients had been given. 

But Dr Degabriele shot back, saying the Maltese company had not given one good reason at law to justify its request for an injunction.

"All we heard here are hypotheses. We were not told what right they claim to have," he said, adding that the company had the normal remedy to attack an awarded contract by filing a case before the Administrative Review Tribunal. 

He said it was not true that negotiations on raising the €23 million subsidy for the transitional period would take place once Autobuses de Leon gauged how it was faring. On the contrary, he said, discussions are currently under way on the level of subsidy once the company introduced the new routes expected of it by Transport Malta. 

On his part, lawyer Paul Lia, appearing for the government, said Island Buses Malta Ltd had an interest in delaying the signing of the new contract as the company was receiving €30,000 a day for providing buses for the present bus service. 

Dr Valenzia, however, replied that  the service being provided by Unscheduled Bus Service was a different legal entity to Island Buses Malta Limited. 

The decision is due to be taken by the court by December 17.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.