Turning 34 car parks into paid and security-protected parking spots was a decision taken by the entire Cabinet, Transport Minister Austin Gatt said.
Not only was Cabinet informed, but weeks ago Cabinet specifically approved a memo defining the process I presented
Dr Gatt also maintained that yesterday’s Cabinet decision to stop the car park tendering process, just one week after it had been announced, was a result of his own proposal.
Earlier yesterday, independent MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando had praised the Government for halting the process, which he said sought to bypass Parliament and was an “abuse of power”.
But Dr Gatt later told The Times the original decision to start the tendering process was “not a ministerial decision but a Cabinet decision”.
“Not only was Cabinet informed, but weeks ago Cabinet specifically approved a memo defining the process I presented and authorised me to proceed,” the minister said.
The Government yesterday told Transport Malta to scrap a call for tenders relating to 34 car parks. Successful bidders would have been granted a 10-year licence to privately run them.
A Labour parliamentary motion calling to repeal the tendering process had immediately won support from government backbench MP Franco Debono.
And Dr Gatt yesterday indicated these developments had prompted the Government to suspend the process.
“The proposal was mine. It was obvious that Parliament would have blocked consideration of the tender, so I suggested that the tender be suspended and talks on the details held with the Opposition,” he said, noting that the Labour Party had already agreed with the tender process “in principle”.
The Times asked Dr Gatt whether the Government’s U-turn indicated a lack of confidence in him. “Hardly so, since the proposal to suspend the process was mine,” he replied.
Despite the suspension, both Dr Debono and Dr Pullicino Orlando yesterday insisted the PL motion should still be debated in Parliament.
Dr Debono went one step further, drafting an amendment to that motion and turning it into a no-confidence vote in Dr Gatt.
The news got short shrift from the Transport Minister.
“Dr Debono’s animosity towards me is well known. It is not the first time that he has jumped on the Labour bandwagon to get back at me for having proposed the motion in the PN Executive which condemned him.”
A final decision on whether to debate the Labour motion is expected on Thursday, at the next meeting of Parliament’s House Business Committee.
And with many reports describing the botched tendering process as an attempt to “privatise” the car parks, Dr Gatt wanted to set the record straight.
“There was no privatisation process, since the management of these car parks is already in private hands. The only thing on tender was a 10-year management contract for existing car parks – exactly the same as is being done right at this moment by the Labour-led Ħamrun local council.”
Those “private hands” belong to the licensed parking attendants who have, over the decades, become synonymous with Maltese car parks. With the tendering process suspended, it seems local drivers will be tossing small change into parkers’ hands rather than parking machines for some time yet.