Updated (garden area) 1.30pm
Transport Malta is looking for an operator to run the Gżira Garden marina almost a decade after it announced its intention to privatise it.
The 25-year concession will cover 25,000 square metres, including a capitanerie in the garden and the stern-to berthing along the quay.
The concession envisages a two-year period during which the operator will upgrade the area and install pontoons, after which fees can be raised according to a schedule set at the operator’s discretion. The winning bidder will have to accommodate the 54 boats berthed there, currently paying a total of €185,000 a year for two years.
The request for proposals, which is open to international bidders, closes on December 11. The successful bidder will have to pay a one-time lump sum, plus an annual concession fee of not less than €175,000 during the term of the contract.
It envisages two years in which the operator will upgrade the area
There is also a fixed €55,000 annual Land Department payment as emphyteusis and a fixed annual contribution of €35,000 to the Gżira local council for the maintenance of the adjacent garden, the tender documents show.
The privatisation of the marinas run by the Malta Maritime Authority, the precursor of Transport Malta, started in 2009 but that of Gżira Garden was held up. In 2010, the regulator wanted to await the construction of a breakwater by the Midi consortium – which has not yet happened – but eventually tried to go ahead.
A year later, then transport minister Austin Gatt insisted a call for tenders would be issued “soon” for the marina but owners who berth there – many of whom have done so for decades – tried to hold up the process to protect their interests, forming the Berth Holders’ Association, which, at one stage, wanted to take over running the marina itself.
This idea followed in the footsteps of the yacht owners at Msida Creek, who put together a winning bid for that marina.
They successfully filed a case against the regulator, with the court declaring they enjoyed a permanent and indefinite right to berth. However, the judgment was subsequently overturned by the Constitutional Court.