The government’s decision to withdraw EU funds earmarked for Malta’s bus operator means that plans to electrify Malta’s bus fleet “cannot go ahead,” according to a Malta Public Transport spokesperson.
During a press conference held on Wednesday morning, PN revealed that the government had secretly withdrawn plans to receive over €40 million in EU funding to spend on updating Malta’s bus fleet.
Malta was set to receive €34 million from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Fund to replace 102 diesel buses with electric vehicles and a further €7 million in Connecting Europe funding to build EV charging points for 102 buses.
Though Malta Public Transport did not cite what it initially planned to invest to electrify its fleet, the company is understood to have been planning a €50 million investment.
But in comments to Times of Malta, MPT confirmed these plans were “no longer feasible and cannot go ahead”.
“The EU grants for the electrification public transport formed an integral part of this investment,” the spokesperson explained.
Plans to electrify Malta’s bus fleet have been in the works for some time, with the government and MPT signing a Memorandum of Understanding to use EU funds for the project back in December 2022.
Malta had already received an undisclosed amount of pre-financing to be directed towards this project on the back of the 2022 MoU, but this will now have to be returned.
MPT will ‘continue to invest in accordance with concession agremeent’
Sources paint a picture of shock and confusion amongst MPT’s top brass, who only received notice of the government’s decision in recent days.
The decision is believed to be final, closing the door on any possibility for the matter to be reevaluated.
The reasons behind the government’s decision to change tack is not yet known, nor is it clear whether any alternative plans are in place.
“MPT will however continue to invest in better quality public transport in accordance with our concession agreement,” the spokesperson added.
But with the concession agreement ended in five years’ time, the government’s decision to effectively scrap the plans raises new questions over the way forward for Malta’s public transit.