More than 400 boat owners who berth their vessels at the Ta’ Xbiex and Msida yacht marinas joined forces to form a consortium which won a concession to manage the two marinas for the next 25 years.
Creek Developments plc, the company formed by 417 boat owners, will be investing €5.7 million over the next two years to upgrade the facilities at the two marinas. They will have new pontoons with better utilities.
For the concession, the consortium paid the government €3.9 million upfront and is expected to pay €7.9 million over the 25-year period.
The consortium was one of three bidders for the marinas.
Chief Consultant Daniel Abela said the 15 pontoons at the two marinas, which together had about 760 berthing spaces, would be changed and security upgraded along with new measures to curtail pollution. He said the group’s main aim was to have two marinas running to international standards.
With regard to berthing fees, Mr Abela said the consortium was bound to keep the present pricing regime until the upgrading project was completed.
Transport Minister Austin Gatt said the privatisation was in line with Transport Malta’s changing role from operator to regulator. Now, only the marina near Gżira Gardens was still run by Transport Malta because of a pending planning authority application to add a pontoon with 40 berthing spaces. Once this was in hand and the pontoon laid, the government intended privatising this too.
Dr Gatt said the government would next year look into the possibility of moorings to offer guest facilities for visiting yachts.
He said the free-for-all system of laying buoys in bays would be stopped and organised into a proper system linked to GPS.
Dr Gatt said this was one of the many initiatives being taken by the government to increase mooring spaces.
However, the implementation was slowed by several environmental impact assessments requested by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. Among them he mentioned a 350-berth marina close to the Excelsior Hotel, which will also see the construction of a small breakwater.