A €12 million project to build new law courts in Gozo has been put on hold following a decision by Gozo Minister Justyne Caruana, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.
Described as the government’s “main priority for Gozo” by then Gozo Minister Anton Refalo during the first Labour legislature, the project was intended to become a new Gozitan landmark based on an innovative architectural design. But it does not appear to have won the favour of Dr Refalo’s successor and has been put on hold.
“Dr Caruana does not like the design of the project and is adamantly against it. No one knows what is going on,” a senior official at the Gozo Ministry told this newspaper.
“Also, since the project was Dr Refalo’s ‘baby’, the usual Gozitan internal political rivalry may be also playing a part,” the official observed.
READ: This is what Gozo's new courthouse was designed to look like
Plans for the building of a state-of-the art court complex and a multi-storey car park in the centre of Victoria have been in the pipeline for years, with hundreds of thousands of euros spent on geological tests, architectural designs and all the necessary specifications.
Dr Caruana does not like the design of the project
The project had reached an advanced stage of planning and was approved by the Planning Authority last year.
Calls for tenders for the excavation of the site and the installation of services were issued before the election. However, the tenders were inexplicably withdrawn after the changing of the guard at the ministry. Asked to explain what is going on with this project and to state why the tendering process had been abruptly halted, a spokesman for the minister did not reply.
Neither did the spokesman say whether the ministry would build the new law courts on a different site to the one chosen by Dr Caruana’s predecessor.
“Public announcements will be made in the next weeks,” was the only reply that came back.
Questions raised in Parliament by Gozo MP Chris Said also came up against a brick wall, with Dr Caruana saying only that some geological studies were being evaluated.
However, the Gozo Ministry official said all the necessary studies had already been concluded and approved by the Planning Authority.
The law courts project, which was to be part of an extensive public plaza, was include a large car park for 450 cars.
Efforts to reach Dr Refalo for comment proved futile.
Despite still being Gozo’s most popular Labour MP, as shown in his performance at the last general election, Dr Refalo was not re-appointed as the island’s minister, with former parliamentary secretary Dr Caruana placed in the post instead.
Dr Refalo remains a Labour backbencher.
ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com