Enemalta is being accused of wasting public funds by issuing a new ‘unnecessary’ €250,000 tender to unload containers.

Enemalta, which posts millions in operating losses yearly, is already paying a private service provider tens of thousands of euro a year to do the job.

The company that has been providing this service for years, Joseph Bonello Logistics Ltd, is crying foul, accusing Enemalta of issuing an unnecessary tender at above market prices.

According to documents seen by The Shift following a complaint filed at the Public Contracts Review Board (PCRB), the company said that its service for unloading Enemalta’s containers still has some two years to go. It argued that there was no need to issue another tender.

The Fgura-based company complained that even the value of the new tender was set at a very high price – some €250,000 over three years – when it supplies the same service at a much lower cost.

The company insisted that the tender should be scrapped as the service for which it was issued was already supplied by them according to a tender they won years ago.

Enemalta contested the call to stop the tender.

According to its officials, the requested service to unload containers is similar but not identical to the one currently serviced by Joseph Bonello Logistics.

Enemalta insisted that the high value of the tender was based on current market prices, but it provided no proof to support its assertions.

The government-appointed PCRB board refused to stop the tender. However, it ordered the energy supply company to move the closing date of the tender as the time frame given for submissions was not according to the law.