Bus owners yesterday turned down the government's compensation offer as part of the public transport reform and proposed a compromise said to be €10 million higher.

After Monday night's meeting for bus owners, the Public Transport Association yesterday presented the Transport Minister with alternative proposals, 24 hours before the government's deadline to accept its offer expires today.

The government is offering bus owners €98,000 in compensation for old buses and €118,000 to those who own low-floor buses. The sums include renouncing their licence and a 10-year guaranteed job at minimum wage with the new service provider. The whole compensation package will amount to €52.4 million.

However, bus owners contend the compensation is not enough to make up for the investment they put into their job.

Bus owners said their latest proposal was for compensation of €116,000 for old buses and €140,000 for the low-floor ones. These figures would mean a cost of €62 million to public coffers.

On Monday, the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry expressed its "utter disbelief" at the compensation package on offer and urged the government to use public funds in a more judicious manner.

Asked whether the sum would derail deficit projections for 2010, a spokesman for the Finance Ministry said the compensation would not be coming out of central government funds but would be paid from the transport authority's budget.

At present, 508 public transport buses are in operation, of which 131 are low-floor.

The government wants to sell the low-floor buses to the new operator and scrap the old ones, except for those classified as vintage, which will be exhibited in a transport museum.

On Saturday, Transport Minister Austin Gatt gave bus owners until today to decide whether to accept the offer, a deadline linked to commitments made to prospective bidders.