The “savings” that the government had boasted of making on the Coast Road came from slashing side projects and not from negotiating discounts with contractors, the Times of Malta can reveal.
About €30 million were saved on the new road – dubbed “the most beautiful in Malta” – with the government saying it had managed to renegotiate the original tenders worth €80 million in all.
But according to new information submitted in Parliament by the Finance Ministry on the insistence of Nationalist MP Ċensu Galea, the savings were the result of a project downsize: certain works in the original designs were completely omitted from the finished road.
We had warned the government that there would be consequences
The works left out included long stretches of pavement, safety barriers, drip irrigation ducts, storm water reservoirs, retaining walls, pump rooms, shifting of utilities, storm water drains and filters and other special structures.
The Transport Ministry rejected the suggestion that the omission of storm water works has led to flooding problems in the road.
Soon after its inauguration late last year, the Coast Road flooded in some areas after heavy downpours, with cars having to use peripheral roads to avoid the waterlogged patches.
Transport Malta said at the time that the flooding was caused by a malfunction of the storm water system at T’Alla w Ommu hill in Salini, which has since been repaired.
Yesterday, a spokesperson denied any connection between the flooding and the works left out.
“The storm water catchment capacity was in no way compromised or reduced,” she said. “Any reference to reservoirs is associated with irrigation.”
However, sources close to one of the road contractors said it was a fact that some of the omitted works had contributed to the accumulation of storm water in the area. “When the government wanted to negotiate, we had no problem, as they were the clients at the end of the day. However, we had warned them that there would be consequences to the cutting of corners they were dictating.”
Last year, the European Court of Auditors found that Transport Malta had broken EU procurement rules when it renegotiatedthe contracts.
As a result, some €11 million of EU funds allocated to the project had to be diverted to unrelated projects after the court recommended that these funds should be withheld by the European Commission.
At the time, the government denied it had breached EU rules and said that it had renegotiated the contracts in order to save on expenses.
It is only now that the government is admitting that important parts of the project werecompletely struck from the original plans.
Ironically, one of the main reasons submitted to the EU in order to obtain funding was to eliminate the problem of flooding in this important artery.
TRANSPORT MALTA REACTION
In a reaction, Transport Malta said the Coast Road is totally protected by crash barriers up to the highest European standards.
"There were no compromises on road safety features. Motor strips, special safety barriers that further protect motorcyclists, were installed in Malta for the first time."
It said the temporary flooding that occurred weeks ago was due to the failure of the storm water system of T’Alla u Ommu area and not related to the works carried out on the Coast Road.It had identified a huge collapse in the system that was thoroughly investigated, cleaned and improved wherever possible.
The stormwater reservoirs, retaining walls and pump rooms mentioned above were part of an ancillary landscaping project that had to be omitted from the works contract. "It was either that, or no Coast Road," TM said.
Editorial note: All information in the article above was reproduced from information submitted by the Minister of Finance in parliamentary question 22135.
Among the tens of items which the document says were “omitted” in their entirety from the original tender are: safety barriers, drip irrigation ducts, storm water reservoirs, retaining walls, drip irrigation pump rooms, pavements and storm water drains.
In its story, the Times of Malta quoted a Transport Malta spokesman stating that “the storm water catchment capacity was in no way compromised” and that flooding was caused by a malfunction of the storm water system at T’Alla w Ommu.