During a short parliamentary meeting, the government and the opposition agreed that Michael Caruana, the current owner of Fort Chambray, could transfer vast parts of a public concession to a group of businessmen, mostly contractors.
The transfer of the 2005 concession will now permit Caruana, better known as il-Billi, to sell the government concession, while the public will not get a cent from this transfer.
Apart from the size of the land – around 14 football grounds – Fort Chambray has historical value. It is a bastioned fort in the precincts of Għajnsielem, Gozo, built in the mid-18th century by the Order of Saint John.
The transfer of public land is only allowed if parliament agrees through a simple majority. When Caruana failed to meet the targets set in the concession, the government had the option of taking back public land. Yet it chose to sit idly for years on a project long overdue.
In a surreal National Audit Accounts Committee session on Wednesday, the opposition asked just one technical question, and the session was over in a few minutes.
Only one of the two PN MPs at the meeting asked a question – MP Stanley Zammit. His colleague, Alex Borg, who is usually very vocal on Gozitan affairs, did not utter a word and voted in favour of the government’s position on the resolution to let Caruana transfer the concession.
Caruana, the owner of Calypso Hotel, insisted when talking to The Shift that he had every right to make money from a concession on which he had missed the targets.
The parliamentary resolution did not even mention who would own the public concession, which runs until 2092, and parts of it can eventually be acquired on a perpetual basis.
The Shift has already revealed the list of developers who will pay Caruana. All are known to support both the Labour and Nationalist parties financially.
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The PN missed a big chance to be credible.
Shame!
One would, with all reason, say “A curse on both your houses” (with acknowledgements to the Bard)
And that is precisely why I am anti-labour but do not call myself nationalist. I hate having to vote for the lesser of two evils and have no confidence in either party.
And yet again both parties have managed to earn my distrust.
So in reality, legally, these new consession owners are taking responsibility for the missed targets?
I don’t mind admitting that sometimes I wonder whether I do the right thing in not voting. These are the times when those doubts just disappear.
veru pajjiz BLA TAMA. Incredible but true – friends of friends of friends on both sides.
Malta being robbed by corrupt greedy bastards. Ghall-poplu hemm hmieg, dhahen, drenagg fil-bahar u gvern u oppozzizzjoni id f’id. The young educated generation will seek green pastures away from mafiamalta. the rest will either be lumped with this mess and those who made hay while the sun shone will be enjoying their ill gotten fortunes in some paradise island. Shame shame shame.
Waiting for some dude to come along and tell me “but Labour are worse”.
You did the right thing, I can?t be convinced otherwise.
My feelings exactly, especially after reading this. I?m shocked. Why oh why would PN do nothing. Having said that, it was Alex Borg so…hmmm.
Not voting for either party shouldn?t mean that you can?t give someone else a chance. There are people like Arnold Cassola who, as a one-man-band, works non stop and, above all, he does so honestly. Labour, we know deserve nobody?s votes and PN? When I read things like this, I despair.
What was the one question asked?
Mu thoughts exactly Miss Ellul.
Arnold, a decent politician, puts everyone to shame.
Roll on general elections.
As you asked for it, yes, Labour are worse indeed! It is a a shame that the PN played along in this case, but this is peanuts in comparison to what is currently addressed in the courts related to the (alleged) crimes of JM and the ex kitchen cabinet and the many other involved in the vitals deal.
100%
Imorru jixxejru t-tnejn li huma…
A total Mafia takeover, we need to get our country back from these crooks asap.
With this egregious betrayal of the public trust by the PN (public trust and PL are unmentionable in the same sentence) this tribe that has lost its head has doomed the Maltese islands and itself to the political wilderness. Because of the modest gains it made in the last EU elections and notwithstanding its holier than thou blah blah it is treating the public like fools, demonstrating once again that it is detached from the public sentiment, which was what reduced it to its present pathetic state to begin with.
Not any longer.
The scale may be different but the substance is very much the same: prostrated before incompetent greedy business interests to allow them to continue to enrich themselves with public assets. At this rate the PN will soon catch up.
Absolutely.
U xi bahnan liebes il hwejjeg jahseb li bejn il PL u il PN hemm xi differenza. Mhux hekk nibqghu!!
MUR capcpilhom it tnejn QABDA MAFJA.
NISTAW NIKKONFERMAW LI IL PARTITARJI TAZ ZEWG PARTITI HUMA QABDA GAHAN.
DIN BHAL DIK IL PROTESTA LI SARET QUDDIEM IL pjazza tal BAZILIKA TA ta Dan Borg gozo.
Hadt minnhom ma deher fil protesta.capcap POPLU laqi
PN, tilef opportunita sabiex juri li vera jahdem ghall-interess ta’Malta pero dahal komplici mal-Labour. Dan Billi min jahseb li hu sabiex jaghmel qliegh minn wirt artna. Serqa ohra.
“All are known to support both the Labour and Nationalist parties financially.”
This is exactly why we have a total mess when it comes to development ? the two main political parties, PL and PN, are in the developers’ and contractors’ pockets.
They are both totally corrupt. Both of them.
Cassola deserves all the praise in the world. But the electoral system is designed to squeeze out independent parties/candidates who would need to get a quota from a single district. I’ve spent all my life hoping that this country would become normal. Looking back, I can honestly say that I wasted my life away. I’m now too old to do anything about it apart from giving my children the advice to pack up and leave and not make the same mistake. Thank God, although it’s heart-breaking for me as a parent, they’re safe now and living a better and more rewarding life. This country will never change.
Dan Borg lanqas qatt ma jitkellem dwar l abuzz kbir ta haddiema tal gvern u tal iskema li lanqas biss imoorru ghax xoghol. Ahseb u ara. Pajjiz korrot. Jieklu ma xulxin.
The last thing I would have expected the PN to do in the people’s interest. Such a shame.
Imbad jigi xi hadd u jghidlek l PN differenti mil PL! Jahasra! T tnejn mafia!
In nies qed tahseb li Alex borg xi santu! Rubbish iehor! Kollha pezza wahda! Nishet dal poplu li jahra tahtu xhin mmur jivvota w l 1 ma jtihx li xi hadd bhal Cassola! Jew PN jew Pl ghax inkella jkun qed jarmi l vot! Poplu marid!
So true!