(Adds PN's statement)

A visitors' centre and water culvert at the Marsascala family park cost half-a-million euros more than originally planned, according to a Government review.

The example forms part of a wide-ranging exercise undertaken by the Management Efficiency Unit that found cost variations at the park to have shot up by 40 per cent.

The report was critical of a number of direct orders that were issued in the weeks running up to the election as a result of expediency rather than urgency.

"We are now not in a position to verify whether this reflects common practice or co-incidence and how widespread it was," the unit said.

In more scathing language the MEU said it did not have definitive proof as to whether this was due to "negligence, malpractice or more serious motives".

"If this was the fruit of deliberate practice it is likely that most traces would have even been removed at the time," the report noted, adding a full internal audit at this stage may be impractical.

Environment Minister Leo Brincat, who released the report this afternoon, however was non-committal as to whether he will ask the police to investigate the matter.

"I will have to seek advice on the matter. My ministry will analyse the report and consult everyone who we are obliged to consult. I believe a holistic plan is required to tackle the issues outlined in the report," he said.

Mr Brincat will be making recommendations to Cabinet on the way forward. He said the park had to be managed professionally and sustainably.

"It is not business as usual but we are committed that the park re-opens its doors for families after addressing various management and safety issues highlighted by the unit," he said.

MINISTER SHOULD SAY THE TRUTH AS TO WHY PARK WAS CLOSED - PN

Minister Brincat’s tactic to try to find how to attack Nationalists governments was disheartening to the people making them lose confidence that the park would soon be enjoyed again.

First he invented a problem that this had to be closed because of a fault at the nearby Waste Recycling Plant and he was now again pointing fingers at the previous administration.

Rather than going round in circles, the minister should clearly say why the park had been closed.

The report he presented today, the PN said, was another contradictory one.

It was drawn up by people who were assigned the task by the Office of the Prime Minister and rather than admit that the cost variations were because the site had been a rubbish dump, he said that abuse was not excluded.

The report also said that the park was not finished when it was inaugurated when it was the minister himself who halted the development of a water park which had not been developed in February because it was winter.

The minister was being rendered not credible at a time when negative politics was supposed to have come to an end, the party said.