Speaker Anġlu Farrugia said that his decision to keep Parliament fully operational from the Palace even though it was set to migrate to the new building in October proved to be “100 per cent right”, as he had already expressed doubts on the progress of works.

Dr Farrugia, who is leading a Maltese delegation at a Commonwealth Parliamentary Meeting in Cameroon, told The Sunday Times of Malta that although he was “very disappointed” when he learnt that the building would not be ready by the time Parliament reconvenes after the summer recess, he was not surprised.

Ironically, this is the date when we were supposed to have moved house

He noted that during a House Business Committee meeting held on June 27, he had already said he was unhappy with the rate of progress.

“As a result I decided to keep all facilities at the Palace operational including the recording equipment in the committee rooms, in case of unexpected delays,” he said.

Nevertheless, during an onsite visit held on July 7, Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi had told the committee the government would be monitoring works to ensure that the project would not continue to fall behind as had been the case under the Nationalist administration.

In spite of this, last Wednesday the government announced that the building had not been completed, and consequently contractors had been slapped with a daily fine of €20,000 for not meeting the September 30 deadline.

This date had been set in a written agreement signed on August 15 by lawyer Peter Fenech on behalf of the contractors, the government noted.

Asked about the new deadline, the Speaker said that he would be in a position to comment following a meeting of the House Business Committee on October 13.

“Ironically, this is the date when we were supposed to have moved house,” Dr Farrugia noted.

Dr Fenech declined to comment saying the contractors would react in the coming days.

However, sources close to the contractors told this newspaper they were confident of handing over the building to the government by the end of this month. The rest of the works, which were set to be carried out this month after the official opening, would be completed in November, they said.

While accepting blame for the fact that some supplies such as furniture and glass panes had not been shipped on time by foreign suppliers, the sources noted that the complexity of the building designed by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano made life difficult.

“If you want to build a work of art that lasts for the next 100 years, you have to be meticulous to the smallest detail,” the sources said.

The sources added that parts of the building such as paving and stone cladding had to be laid more than once as even minor variations of a few millimetres were not being tolerated by the architects supervising the works.

In addition contractors were expected to come up with their own designs according to the specifications set in the Piano designs, rather than being handed the final product, the sources said.

“This complicated life further as each time the design had to be sent abroad to be approved by the Piano team, and in some cases we were asked carry out modifications, or even start from scratch,” according to one contractor who preferred to remain anonymous.

He said that their aim was to complete the project as soon as possible as the delay was too costly to sustain.