The report ‘EU withholds some Coast Road project funds’ (October 28) contained a wealth of fascinating information.
First, if the planned EU contribution was the usual 85 per cent, the predicted cost of the Coast Road must have been around €52 million. (And what was the estimate for an 11km tunnel across a geological fault-line 100 metres under the bottom of the sea?)
Also, apparently the EU time limit for funded projects doesn’t allow time to call for competitive tenders from Maltese (or other EU) contractors.
Therefore, the government didn’t bother with a call for “offers” to build the Coast Road, despite a warning from the EU funding secretariat.
No worries, because Malta will spend the money to whichit is now not entitled on“other projects”.
EU funding intended for the road building was used “to credit tallinja card users”.
Let’s be grateful for (and wonder at) the generosity of the net-contributing countries of our European neighbours with their deep pockets and no-questions-asked policies for shovelling millions of euros in this direction for the government to spend in any way it wishes.