Work on the building of a medical school campus in the precincts of the Gozo Hospital has hit another snag and is at a complete standstill once again.

Sirimed, the Sicilian contractor tasked with the work since the takeover of the multimillion-euro partnership agreement with the government by Steward Health Care, has abandoned the site, awaiting instructions from the Steward management.

“No work has been carried out in the area over the past two weeks, and we are informed that there are severe financial problems related to the project,” sources close to the Italian contractors said.

A visit to the site showed there was no work in progress and no workers or heavy machinery on site, except for an unused tower crane.

Still, when contacted, a spokeswoman for Steward insisted “work is ongoing”.

“Steward is up-to-date on payments to the contractor. We are very happy with the progress being made and proud of the project we will be handing over to Barts in the coming months.”

The spokeswoman declined to give a time frame by which the handing over would happen.

In a short reply identical to Steward’s, the Health Ministry said it was “informed Steward is up-to-date with payments to the contractor, and work is ongoing on the new Barts Medical School.”

Sources involved in the project, however, told the Times of Malta that although work had been gaining momentum a few months ago following the takeover of Steward, payments to the contractors had become inconsistent and delayed, forcing the Italian contractors to pull the plug until a solution was forthcoming.

The Times of Malta is informed the government was called to intervene to solve the strained financial situation, which may further delay the completion of the long-overdue project.

“The main issue is payments,” the sources said.

“There were instances where payments to the contractor and their local suppliers were not honoured, and the Italians have now made it clear to the authorities that they are not ready to continue if things won’t change.”

The Barts campus is part of the €2 billion, 30-year contract the government signed with Vitals Global Healthcare, an unknown entity in the healthcare sector, which was to invest €200 million in three public hospitals, Karin Grech and St Luke’s in Malta and the Gozo General Hospital.

However, despite an announcement from Prime Minister Joseph Muscat that Barts would start operating from the new campus in September 2016, the school has never seen the light of day, as Vitals did not honour the obligations it signed up for in its contract with the government.

Instead of taking back the facilities, as the contract stipulated, the government allowed VGH to sell its 30-year concession to Steward Health Care of the US in an undisclosed deal, passing on all the obligations of the contract to the new owners.

In the meantime, VGH has been disbanded due to insolvency.

Following the latest deal, originally negotiated by former health minister Konrad Mizzi, the office of Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne told the Times of Malta that the new deadline for the completion of the Barts medical campus had been moved to the third quarter of this year.

However, construction work is still in its initial stages, and the latest snag is expected to further delay the project.

Though Steward is now responsible for the construction of the new medical school facilities, the unpublished contract stipulates that the new campus, when it is ready, will be passed on to Barts free of charge.

The cost of the campus will be paid by taxpayers, earning Steward some €1.2 million a year for the next 30 years.

After postponing the opening of their medical degree courses in Gozo by a year, Barts was forced to start its operations from the school currently hosting the sixth form in Victoria.

Substantial structural changes had to be made to the sixth-form building in order to meet the requirements of Barts.