The government is expected to have incurred a total of €6 million in fines for delays in the completion of the new parliament building, now due in September nearly two years late.
In January 2013, the government started paying Malita Investments, the owner and financing arm of the City Gate project, a daily fine of €10,000 for the parliament building.
This is because Malita was meant to have started receiving rents from the government in December 2012, the deadline for completion. Since that deadline was missed, Malita is receiving the penalty in lieu of the rent, which is of a similar amount.
The total amount due is expected to surpass the €6 million mark if the project is completed by September, as announced lately.
Once MPs start meeting in the new building, the fine will be converted to a rental fee.
The government has started paying €4,200 a day in rent for the open-air theatre. However, sources downplayed the fine, saying it was just a government-to-government transaction.
“Since Malita is 80 per cent owned by the government, the State is not suffering any enormous losses. The only thing is that the government has been renting a building for €10,000 a day without making any use of it.”
Since Malita is 80 per cent owned by the government, the State is not suffering any enormous losses
The €80 million project, which includes a new entrance for Valletta, a state-of-the art building for parliament, the open-air theatre and a fully fledged garden in the ditch beneath City Gate, has been hit by massive delays, particularly due to over-ambitious targets and complications during construction. After missing the September 2012 deadline, a new date for completion was first set for June last year and now the parliament building should be ready in time for MPs to return from their summer recess.
The €2 million garden, an area meant for the public to enjoy and considered to be part and parcel of the original project, is in doubt: the government is still considering whether to go ahead with it due to cost concerns.
Last July, Transport Minister Joe Mizzi, who is responsible for the project, said the government had decided to scrap the garden as it had run over budget.
However, sources said that following architect Renzo Piano’s insistence that the garden is essential for the project’s completion, the government is re-evaluating that decision.
“Currently, all the infrastructure necessary in the ditch is being constructed.
“However, we are still waiting for the government to decide on the garden and the embellishment,” the source said.
A few weeks ago this newspaper reported that the government was toying with the idea of converting the ditch area into a car park instead of a garden.