The government refuses to give details on the amount of fines paid so far by the contractors due to delays on the new Parliament building even though the capping set last October has been exceeded.
As from the beginning of that month, the companies forming part of Bieb il-Belt consortium, which is responsible for the construction of the new Parliament building, were slapped with a €20,000 daily fine by the government for the delays.
Insisting that its decision indicated the serious manner in which it handled large projects, the government had said the fines would be capped at a maximum of €2 million – or a 100-day delay.
However, the state-of-the-art building is still not completed even though the 100-day capping has been exceeded by over two weeks now.
Calculations made by Times of Malta in line with the government’s announcement last October show the consortium has already accumulated almost €2.3 million in fines.
The issue of the fines is still a bone of contention
However, sources close to members of the consortium said no fines had been paid so far as talks continued with the government.
“The issue of the fines is still a bone of contention as we don’t actually know how the government calculated the sum of the fines and according to which contracts it is basing its unilateral decision,” one of the members said.
“There are so many different contracts between the government and the different members of the consortium that it is difficult to imagine how the government came to the €20,000 daily fine conclusion,” another company forming part of the consortium said.
Contacted by this newspaper, Peter Fenech, chairman of the BIB consortium, declined to comment on the matter insisting they were internal affairs involving only the consortium and the government. “Sorry, but I can’t tell you anything at this stage,” Dr Fenech said.
The Transport Ministry, which is responsible for the project, refused to give details on the amount of fines paid so far.
Asked for a breakdown of the fines imposed on the consortium since October 1, 2014 and to state how much has been actually paid so far, a spokesman for Transport Minister Joe Mizzi would not give details.
“The Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation (GHRC) is abiding by the procedure set by the contracts with regard to delays,” the spokesman said.
The contracts have not been published.
Asked to give a new date by when the new Parliament will be ready, the spokesman again refused to be specific.
“The last information given by the contractors regarding the conclusion of the works was given by GHRC chairman Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi during the sitting of [Parliament’s] House Business Committee last January 19,” he said.
During that meeting, Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi said that the GHRC was expecting the contractors to start handing over the project as from the middle of February.
Speaker Anġlu Farrugia said he was hoping the new Parliament building would start functioning after the Easter recess.
The members of the BIB consortium are Attard Brothers, Panta Contracting, Fino, Ballut Blocks, Blockrete and Alberta.
The building, part of a new Valletta entrance designed by world-acclaimed architect Renzo Piano, was originally scheduled to be completed by November 2012.
However, it has fallen behind schedule a number of times.
Following assurances by Mr Mizzi last July that Parliament could start meeting in the new building in October, MPs extended their summer recess to be able to meet there. However, again, the deadline was not met prompting the government to impose daily delay fines.