The government is considering plans to have the authorities build kiosks in Comino which would then be rented to people who win tenders to operate them, Foreign and Tourism Minister Ian Borg told parliament on Tuesday.

In this way, he said, it would be ensured that the style of the kiosks would be in keeping with the environment of the area.

The minister was replying to a questions in parliament by Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar.

The minister in his reply insisted that kiosk owners must observe their contract conditions.

He said that lessons were learnt when the authorities set specific design paraments for the kiosks at City Gate and much the same practice would be followed for Comino.

Last month Borg told Times of Malta that Comino’s Blue Lagoon can expect to see half the usual number of tourists during this summer’s busiest months, as the government plans to introduce a capacity cap for commercial boat operators.

Speaking in an interview on Times of Malta’s podcast Times Talk, Borg vowed to “clean up” Comino, add sanitary facilities and introduce stricter and fairer concessions for boat, kiosk and deckchair operators as early as this summer.

“Do we need all those kiosks?” he asked during the interview.

He vowed to address the current chaotic arrangement of the kiosks through a standardised design, developed in consultation with NGOs and other stakeholders, and approved by authorities following a public call.

At present, he said, the kiosks were set up according to the owners’ likes, but Comino was not theirs.

Addressing past criticisms of opaque direct orders for kiosks and deckchairs, Borg also committed to issuing  calls for tender for all future concessions for transparency and fairness.