No fewer than 1,338 people have already paid a deposit for a grave at the Addolorata cemetery, despite works on the much-awaited extension project not having started yet.

Some 2,880 graves are to be built in the Addolorata cemetery as part of an €18 million extension project approved over two years ago.

The government has not yet signed a contract for works on the extension project to begin, Health Minister Chris Fearne admitted in Parliament.

In response to PN MP Hermann Schiavone, Mr Fearne said the contract for works to begin will be signed "in the coming days".

The government will be making about €7 million from the sale of new graves at the Santa Maria Addolorata cemetery, following the privatisation of the island’s national burial place, the Sunday Times of Malta had revealed.

The graves are set at a price of €8,000 - a €3,000 increase since the original set price.

READ: Anger as grave prices soar by €3,000

Graves at the Addolorata are in high demand. A government call in 2013 for four-tier graves at €5,000 each drew many applications, with some 385 promise-of-sale agreements signed. The rest will now be sold at €8,000 per grave.