A Nationalist MP who was tasked by the opposition with scrutinising public projects is behind costly designs to give the Balluta stairs a €450,000 facelift.

MP Toni Bezzina, who quietly had the infrastructure part of his shadow portfolio taken away from him by PN leader Bernard Grech at the end of May, signed off on the estimated costings for the Balluta plans on May 4.

The modernist design, which has been branded as unnecessarily expensive, is sandwiched between two protected buildings in the Balluta church area.

Despite being paid as a full-time senior architect within the public works section of Ian Borg’s infrastructure ministry, Bezzina also runs his own architecture firm.

The firm, ACB architects, has over the years won various tenders to act as architects for several PN and Labour-led local councils, work which Bezzina also attends to.

His firm’s contract as architects for the PN-led St Julian’s local council is what led to his involvement in the Balluta steps design.

The Balluta project will be funded by a grant from the planning authority. The actual works on the project will not be carried out by Bezzina’s firm.

PN defends Bezzina

A PN spokesperson dismissed conflict of interest concerns about Bezzina’s role as an employee within Borg’s ministry, a shadow minister covering parts of Borg’s portfolio and a beneficiary of public contacts. 

“If Times of Malta’s criticism is that Toni Bezzina is allowed to make a living, while contributing his time to politics within his area of expertise, our reply is: how do you expect the opposition to function within a system that does not allow for full-time MPs?”

The spokesperson said Bezzina had been on the frontline of much of the vociferous criticism against Borg, whether he has demonstrated “nepotism, arrogance, incompetence, self-enrichment and poor management of projects,  which have all been too frequent”.

A 2019 investigation by the standards commissioner concluded it is “fundamentally wrong” for backbench and opposition MPs to be employed by the government, as it erodes parliament’s scrutiny of the executive.

Times of Malta is informed the infrastructure part of Bezzina’s portfolio was taken away by the PN at the end of May and handed to fellow MP Ryan Callus.

No public announcement was made about the move, which came following conflict of interests concerns raised by the standards commissioner about opposition MPs acting as shadow spokespersons for the ministries they work for.

Bezzina, however, was still designating himself as the shadow spokesperson for infrastructure on his social media platforms until Friday, only removing the references after being contacted by Times of Malta.

He also retains the transport, maritime and aviation shadow portfolios, which all fall under Ian Borg’s responsibility.

Toni Bezzina signed off the project’s costings.

Bezzina said his remit as shadow spokesperson does not include local councils.

“In the exercise of my profession, I provide architectural services to my clients and charge professional fees for the services rendered. The St Julian’s council appointed me as its architect following a public tender process and the unanimous decision of the councillors.”

He said he does not participate or have any involvement whatsoever in the origin of the funding obtained by the client.

Bezzina said he is employed with the public works department.

“I believe the time spent working within my architecture firm also gives me the opportunity of a continued professional development.  From an organisational aspect, there are also a number of other architects so that its day-to-day running of my firm does not require my constant attention.

“Within the political sphere the main consideration is whether any potential conflict can operate as to limit or hamper a politician from doing his job as it should be done. This applies in a number of other areas, such as a teacher debating education, a lawyer debating the workings of the courts, a doctor debating the procedure in public hospitals...”

Council defends project

The local council has come out in defence of the project, saying the designs and building costs had changed considerably from those outlined in a 2017 tender for the works which was awarded to a contractor for €141,600.

Replying to questions, the council said the 2017 tender had to be reissued in view of additional requirements and changes to the original design.

The council said the prices of nearly all building materials and related works such as dumping charges had increased since then, requiring a fresh tender.

After the planning authority agreed to fund the project, various amendments to the original designs were required, including changes to the type of light fittings used, the inclusion of a water retention reservoir and the inclusion of a water culvert, the council said.

The council said it was evident the rates submitted by the sole bidder for the 2017 contract were “underpriced”, and the tenderer did not acquaint himself with site restrictions.

“In this particular case, the site is a steeply-sloping site, thus could not be accessed by any machinery and therefore all works had to be carried out by hand.

“This apart from the fact that work had to be carried flanked on both sides by a grade 1 and grade 2 scheduled buildings, which needed due attention in view that excavation works were necessary.”

The many hats of Toni Bezzina

▪ Full-time architect with Infrastructure Ministry.

▪ Shadows three of Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg’s porfolios.

▪ Architect to various local councils.