Update 12.45pm - Added Front Ħarsien ODZ statement
Planning consultants Mott MacDonald were awarded the €300,000 Paceville master plan contract on the strength of a call whose terms of reference changed midway through the adjudication process.
Moreover, the Planning Authority did not feel the need to go back to the other bidders to communicate the changes and to verify if they were interested in submitting fresh proposals. It also transpired that Mott MacDonald lacked expertise in certain areas and outsourced several parts of the plan to Broadway Malyan.
This was revealed during a three-hour session of Parliament’s Environment and Development Planning Committee which two days ago debated the controversial master plan.
Meanwhile the Planning Parliamentary Secretariat yesterday announced that it was willing to “review” the plan to put people’s minds to rest in the wake of concerns raised by the committee. It noted that the plan was still at public consultation stage.
However, questions sent by this newspaper asking who would shoulder responsibility for the handling of this call, as well as the additional expenses incurred by taxpayers to carry out the review, were not answered by the time of writing.
During last Tuesday’s meeting Mott MacDonald representative Damian Price, who flew to Malta to brief MPs about the document, revealed that the firm had been contacted by the PA last March. However, to the surprise of those present, he said that the purpose of the expression of interest was not for the Paceville master plan but for an integrated transport strategy.
This revelation prompted Opposition MPs to question the reasons why the call had “morphed” from the original plan.
Furthermore, Mr Price also told MPs that prior to being awarded the contract, they had flagged a potential conflict of interest to the Planning Authority as they had been giving consultancy in relation to the Mercury House tower, also in Paceville. Nevertheless, PA chief Johann Buttigieg had given his go-ahead for the signing of the agreement, the Mott MacDonald official told MPs.
Faced by these claims, Mr Buttigieg turned up towards the end of the committee meeting with the aim of setting the record straight. He pointed out that last March, they had approached 10 urban planning consultancy firms which were then shortlisted to two – Mott MacDonald and IBI Group of the UK. However, only Mott MacDonald submitted the required information.
Asked by Opposition MP Marthese Portelli to clarify the nature of this call, Mr Buttigieg initially insisted that this was related to the Paceville plan. However, the PA chief corrected himself after being contradicted by Mr Price.
“The initial expression of interest was to write a transport strategy and then the terms of reference of the proposal changed to a development plan,” the Mott MacDonald official insisted.
Questioned why no fresh call was issued following these changes, Mr Buttigieg replied that “they [the other bidders] had no intention to work for Malta” while pointing out that “everybody had the right to make an expression”.
Reacting to concerns regarding a potential conflict of interest, Mr Buttigieg said he was given an assurance by Mott MacDonald that their consultancy on a “preliminary high-level report” for the Mercury tower project “would not impinge” on the master plan. Furthermore, they were bound not to carry out any work whatsoever for any party which had anything to do with the plan, the PA chief said.
Confronted by Planning Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri, who also sits on this committee, Mr Buttigieg reiterated that he saw no conflict of interest.
Meanwhile in a statement issued yesterday, the Parliamentary Secretariat said that it had not been made aware of such concerns by the PA, as the authority had felt that there were no grounds for such a conflict.
Moreover, the government was also unaware that international architectural firm Zaha Hadid had commissioned a separate branch within Mott MacDonald to provide consultancy on mechanical engineering work on the Mercury tower project.
Replying to questions sent by the Times of Malta, the planning secretariat said Broadway Malyan “worked on master planning, landscaping, design, architecture and environmental sustainability, while Mott Macdonald were responsible for the holistic transport strategy and the identification of infrastructural requirements for the policy framework”.
'Appalled' - Front Ħarsien ODZ
In a statement, activists Front Ħarsien ODZ said they were "appalled" by the way in which the PA had awarded Mott MacDonald the consultancy contract.
“If, after a contract is awarded, the terms of reference change in such a drastic way, then the tender must be reissued and the competition must start again with these new terms. Otherwise, it amounts to a direct order from the PA to Mott MacDonald, which raises strong suspicion,” the NGO said.
It noted that the master plan had cost taxpayers €300,000.
"Had the government consulted civil society before rushing with its plans, far less time and money would have been wasted on this highly unjust proposal," the Front argued.