The Carmelo Stivala Group, based in Gzira and headed by Malta Developers Association president Michael Stivala, was the only bidder for a government concession to rehabilitate the old Chalet at Sliema’s Għar id-Dud.
The €8.4 million offer lodged for the concession by the Carmelo Stivala Group, which employs disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as its consultant, does not include the ground rent payment.
A spokesman for the group told The Shift that the evaluation would be carried on the concession offer as the ground rent element is fixed. The group’s offer, the spokesperson said, was slightly higher than the minimum concession fee requested.
According to the offer’s document released by the government last year, the minimum payment expected for the concession was €14.4 million, which includes just over €8 million in concession fees and another €6 million in ground rent payable annually to the Lands Authority over the term of the 65-year of the concession.
According to the conditions in the government’s Request for Proposals (RfP), the concessionaire must invest a minimum of €3.2 million in initial capital to convert the site into a catering and entertainment establishment.
Only the Carmelo Stivala Group lodged a bid for the 65-year Sliema Chalet concession.
The brief also stipulated that the potential concessionaire must reinvest another €3.2 million after the concession’s first 28 years.
The process is being led by the Office of the Prime Minister, which has assumed the political remit for Malta Strategic Partnership Projects Ltd (which used to be Projects Malta) and handles privatisation deals.
The Chalet was built in 1926 and was once an iconic dance hall. It closed in 1963 and was left to fall into ruin. Various attempts by different administrations to re-develop the site failed over the ensuing decades.
Surely, they will find some sort of an idea for a ‘nice and cosy concrete building’ to put there.
The way Malta changes at the hands of the usual involved, makes on becoming a nostalgist, yearning for the Malta that has already vanished.
The government will probably spend many millions to build a breakwater which would give Stivala a bargain. Does he know something only Gowzef and Bobby know?
I’ve very often thought of the same idea.
Build two breakwaters, one extending from somewhere close to the hotel lidos in Qui-si-Sana, and another from the water polo pitch.
Bingo – you get a large enclosed leisure sea park in the very heart of Sliema.
The area could provide space for a couple of yachts for deserving fellows!
Another Electrogas type contract. Terms and conditions kept the competition away. Now variations, side letters, and BOV will provide the real deal profits. Another stew being cooked in the kitchen cabinet, with Abela stirring the pot while dipping his finger in.