Parliament's National Audit Office Accounts Committee on Wednesday concluded its discussion on the transfer of a parcel of land on Gżira seafront to a consortium of four hotels for the development of a lido.

Opposition MP Mario de Marco said he had been contacted by a hotel which had informed the Lands Authority of its wish to join the consortium.

He questioned whether establishing a “closed shop” concession which could only be enjoyed by the original four hotels was in the best interest of the area, as those who were excluded might wish to have lidos of their own should they not be allowed to benefit from the facilities enjoyed by the concessionaires.

Arguing that this particular issue would not have arisen had the concession been issued by public tender rather then parliamentary resolution, he said that operators in similar situations should be given the option to join the consortium, while compensating the other members for any expenses incurred during the process by which the concession had been obtained.

Planning Parliamentary Secretary Chris Agius drew attention to the fact that the original four hotels had requested planning permission for the area in 2006, and no wish by others to join the consortium had been expressed at that time.

Consortium members present for the sitting added that there had been other partners interested in participating in the lido when the idea was conceived 25 years ago, but that these had backed out when it was time to capitalize the venture. To date, they added, the four partners had spent in excess of €500,000 to see the project come to fruition.

It was decided that it would be left up to the consortium members to determine which hotels could become partners.

Despite describing the situation as “not ideal,” Dr de Marco and Opposition MP Karl Gouder voted in favour of the property transfer, which was later approved unanimously by parliament.