Waste Oils Co Ltd has been given a 30-year lease to operate the Ricasoli Tank Cleaning Facilities.

The contract, which will also see the company investing €10.8 million in the facilities, was signed this afternoon.

The agreement provides for an annual ground rent of €100,000 and an additional annual rent of €130,000.

The rents increase by 15 per cent every five years. Over the 30-year period, the payment will work out to just over €10 million. The concessionaire also paid €300,000.

The tendering process started in May and Waste Oils was the only company to submit a tender.

In May, the Finance Ministry had said that the facility could not be moved because no alternative site had been found.

In 2008, a Request for Proposals for the Provision of Ship Generated Waste Oils was issued. The chosen bidder was to have managed the Ricasoli facility for two years and then set up a new facility elsewhere.

There was one eligible bidder but Mepa did not grant a permit for the site the bidder proposed.

Transport Malta then appointed consultants to conduct a site selection study and it was concluded that the only site which satisfied all Mepa requirements was the existing one at Ricasoli.