An application for damages has been filed in court by an Italian company which was excluded from being considered for the tender of the Malta South Sewage Treatment Plant.

The company Costruzioni Dondi filed its application against the director of contracts and the Water Services Corporation claiming irregularities in the tender award.

This tender, it said, was originally budgeted at €57 million but the budget allocated by the company winning it was of some €84 million.

The company is claiming that it had submitted its offer following a call based on the allocated budget.

In March last year, the contracts committee informed the company that its tender would no longer be considered because it did not meet some of the administrative requirements.

The company said it protested against the reasons given in a letter to the director but its complaint was not referred to the Appeals Board.

The company called on the court to declare that the contract given was in breach of legislation regulating public contracts and that its exclusion from the process was irregular, causing it loss of profit.