Former Gozo minister Anton Refalo, who was replaced after the last election by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, is openly questioning his successor's plans to scrap a project to build a new courthouse in central Victoria and instead relocate it to Xewkija.

Through a parliamentary question, the only one he filed since losing his Cabinet seat, Dr Refalo asked Gozo Minister Justyne Caruana to confirm that her plans to relocate the new courthouse to a place in Xewkija, will mean the transfer of two essential services to Gozitan farmers – the abattoir and the pitkalija.

He also questioned Dr Caruana on how much EU funds were recently spent to modernise the Gozo abattoir.

In her reply, Dr Caruana avoided giving a reply to her predecessor and instead said that “a consultation process on the new project is currently under way”.

A consultation process on the new project is currently under way

The decision to scrap the new courthouse project in Rabat – considered as one of the ‘political dreams’ of Dr Refalo – a lawyer by profession – was one of the first decisions taken by Dr Caruana through her new ministerial office.

Tenders on the project issued before the last elections were stopped without being adjudicated.

Although the Gozo Ministry had refused to explain why the tendering process had been unceremoniously stopped, Gozitan sources immediately indicated that Dr Caruana told her aides that she did not want to continue with Dr Refalo's plans.

“Political rivalry in Gozo is much more accentuated than in Malta. This applies to both the Nationalist and Labour parties particularly due to the post of Gozo minister. In Gozo, if your party is in government and you are not the Gozo minister, your political clout among a very demanding electorate is almost nil,” a senior government official said.

“Despite the fact Dr Caruana has come out with many reasons why the Gozo courthouse should move from where it was planned, everyone in Gozo knows that this is because it was Dr Refalo's baby,” the official said.

Plans for the new courthouse had been at a very advanced stage and hundreds of thousands of euros had already been spent on architects, consultants, geological studies and the preparation of tenders.

After years in the pipeline, in 2016 the Planning Authority gave its green light to the project, describing its design as an “iconic building for Gozo”.

However, following the changing of the guard at the Gozo Ministry, the project will now have to start from scratch.