Environment Minister Leo Brincat told Parliament yesterday that the previous Nationalist administration had left behind a disastrous situation at the Marsaxlokk hard standing facility.

This is an EU-funded project initially aimed at providing hard standing facilities for 16 fishing vessels of up to 22 metres in length that could be ser-viced simultaneously.

The facility was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in 2007 as a form of subsidised assistance to local fishermen. Before its construction, Maltese fishermen had no option but to either vie for use of the limited existing maintenance facilities (which could only accommodate three vessels at a time), or avail of the dockyard services in Sicily instead.

Answering a parliamentary question by Ċensu Galea (PN), the minister said there were huge debts as well as serious administrative and health and safety shortcomings.

The Department for Fisheries and Aquaculture had now acquired additional funds from the Finance Ministry to address these shortcomings.

A call for tenders would be issued in the coming weeks to rectify these matters.