Updated 1.15 pm with PN reaction below
The electoral pledge to offer a fast ferry service between Malta and Gozo has been dropped following a change in policy, Transport Minister Ian Borg has said.
He told Times of Malta that there had been a rethink and a call for tenders issued recently by the transport authorities excludes a fast ferry option but simply calls for a conventional sea ferry service similar to those which already operate in Malta’s ports.
However, the government is not closing the door completely to the idea, he said.
The call for tenders was the government’s third bid to award a multi-million-euro contract for a ferry service between Malta and Gozo. It was suspended last week after two interested parties claimed the selection criteria were discriminatory, favouring certain operators and excluding others.
Supreme Travel Ltd and Marsamxetto Steamferry Services – which is owned by Captain Morgan Leisure Ltd and The Mercantile and Coaling Co. Bianchi and Co. Ltd – filed complaints before the Public Contracts Review Board demanding the suspension of the €115.5 million tender.
The tender is the third attempt after the previous two were mysteriously cancelled
The tender is for the provision of a ferry service with a hop-on, hop-off facility from several seaside localities including Marsaxlokk, Ta’ Xbiex, St Paul’s Bay, Valletta, St Julian’s and Gozo.
The tender, issued earlier this month, is the third attempt after the previous two were mysteriously cancelled by the Transport Ministry following lengthy legal proceedings.
But whereas the first two tenders were for the provision of a fast ferry service between Valletta and Mġarr – in line with Labour’s electoral pledge – the latest version has dropped the term ‘fast’ and included a hop-on, hop-off service.
Borg said this was the first time that the tender was issued since he became transport minister and refused to say why the previous two had been cancelled.
On why the idea of a fast ferry had been shelved, Borg said this was a change in policy although the government was not excluding such a service in the future.
“The government announced, through a budget measure, the ferry service bet-ween the two islands. The government excluded the fast ferry from the new tender because the service we already have in the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett should be extended. The government took a conscious decision to split the conventional from the fast ferry,” he said.
“Prospective bidders have their comments, and clarifications will be made. These things happen on a daily basis. I am committed to providing the service and will also deliver on the tunnel between Malta and Gozo.”
PN slams government decision
The Nationalist Party in a statement regretted the government decision, saying Gozitans were being let down after repeated promises in the past seven years, as was the case also in other areas.
The introduction of a fast ferry service was important for the people of Gozo, the PN said, and it asked who would assume responsibility for the time and effort wasted over the years.