The government is expected to “imminently” announce the preferred bidder for Marsa Shipbuilding.

Sources said there was really only one obvious preferred bidder out of the six but it did not appear that the operation justified occupying the entire 175,000 square metres.

Last March, 28 consortia expressed interest in the site but only six went on to submit bids. Only one of them – by Ablecare Oilfield Services Group – was for the entire site, proposing to use it for the oil and gas industry.

The sources said once the preferred bidder was announced, negotiations would encompass not just the footprint it would take over but also the terms of the emphyteusis. “Anything less than 40 years would mean the investment would not be recouped,” they said.

Read more on Times of Malta.

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