The prospective buyers of the ship repair facilities at Malta Shipyards, Palumbo spa, are insisting that they cannot be obliged to retain the remaining 60 workers at Malta Shipyards and they do not wish to be bound by old collective agreements and work practices, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said today.

"They want to start a new page, with a clean slate" the minister told a press conference.

He said that the GWU was unhappy about this but did not wish to endanger the privatisation process.

After several meetings, the minister said he had written to the union proposing a way forward for a conclusion of the process.

The government proposed to the union that in the national interest the workers would be offered another chance to take early retirement under the same terms as offered by the other workers, or they would join IPSL, a government company. They have to decide by March 29.

Mr Fenech said it appeared that this solution was agreeable to the union.

These workers, like all the others before them, would be free to apply to work with the new dockyard operators under new conditions.

Palumbo had indicated it would initially engage 250 workers and that number would increase substantially as business and confidence grew, Mr Fenech said.

He said the dockyard would close at the end of the month and the company would be liquidated. A parliamentary resolution for the transfer of the dockyard is expected to be moved next month. Work at Manoel Island yacht yard would continue.

The Finance Ministry said in February that the 'yard was being sold for €90.6 million on a 30-year concession.

After inflation was taken into account, the agreement translated into an equivalent value of €52.7 million if paid out today.

The ministry said €18 million would be paid upfront followed by €72.6 million in rent over 30 years.

Mr Fenech said the government would continue to operate the super yacht facility and eventually sell it as a going concern.