Parliament may reconvene in the new building at the entrance to Valletta when it returns from Easter recess in April, so long as the new deadline for the completion of works is met.
Speaker Anġlu Farrugia confirmed this was the plan when asked yesterday about the migration date.
“Migration will be done at the first opportunity, if possible after the Easter recess,” he said.
The latest deadline for the completion of works has been set for the end of March and was announced on Monday during a House Business Committee meeting.
Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation chairman Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi gave a detailed presentation outlining the remaining works to be carried out before the project could be handed over to the Speaker.
The entity is responsible for overseeing the project, designed by world renowned architect Renzo Piano, and liaising with the various contractors tasked with turning it into a functioning House of Representatives.
However, Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi noted that he was basing his pledge on the latest information being relayed to him by the contractors.
The project was supposed to have been inaugurated last October but it was not completed on time and as a result the government slapped the contractors with a hefty daily fine.
The project is now also expected to have cost €45m – 50 per cent more than the original estimate – by the time it is complete.
The contractors have pledged to finish the plenary chamber block by the end of next month
The delivery of desks for the plenary chamber, which had to be redesigned at the eleventh hour due to a lack of space, is one of the last major hurdles. The desks are expected to arrive within the next few days, with contractors pledging to finish the plenary chamber block by the end of next month.
As for the other block, which will include the Speaker’s quarters, committee rooms and MPs’ offices, the remaining works include some light fittings, the activation of IT equipment and security cameras and the installation of glazed partitions.
As a result, the actual handover of the building could start as early as February 7 so that by the end of March the testing, calibration and commissioning of all the equipment could be ready.
According to the corporation, works were delayed due to the late delivery of certain materials, mainly the stone cladding, furniture and metal soffits, as well as the modification of the plenary chamber desks.
It was also argued that the sequential process of works prevented the contractors from speeding up their work in certain areas.
The new parliament building has a history of delays.
The controversial project, unveiled in June 2009, was first meant to have been completed in July 2013. A year’s delay was then announced but by October of last year completion was still far off, forcing the House to reconvene in the present chamber.