Plans for the upgrade of Ta’ Qali Crafts Village will be submitted to the European Regional Development Fund as soon as financing applications open, Small Enterprises Minister Chris Cardona told Jason Azzopardi (PN) in reply to a parliamentary question.

The project is currently at final planning stage and tender documents were being written. Physical work would start as soon as the ERDF approved funding.

Dr Cardona said he had personally visited the village and spoken to operators with whom Malta Industrial Parks also held a number of consultation meetings.

The minister said no operator had been presented with a deadline but current promise-of-sale agreements would expire at the end of this month. The operators had been offered emphyteusis for 65 years.