TM to spend €500,000 more to buy new RHIBs… to be delivered in winter

Just a few weeks after deciding to spend around €1,500 per day to patrol the coast this summer using three leased dinghies, Transport Malta (TM) has demonstrated poor planning and management once again.

The agency has now decided to purchase two new RHIBs, totalling half a million euros. However, the new boats will only be delivered in winter, a time when the maritime enforcement officers do not actively use these vessels.

Due to delays in the tendering process, TM will incur an additional €135,000 in leasing costs this summer, even though the new boats could have been ready had the purchase been planned.

TM officials told The Shift that this latest confusion regarding the leasing and purchasing of boats reflects the disarray in the regulator’s management, which they claim is being micromanaged directly by Transport Minister Chris Bonett.

The latest TM saga regarding the RHIBs recalls a scandal from a few years ago, when five brand-new boats, purchased by the authority for over €1 million, were rendered unseaworthy and had to be beached the following year due to significant defects. Although an internal TM inquiry found wrongdoing by some officials in handling the €1 million tender, no charges were filed by the police despite ongoing investigations.

Just a few weeks ago, The Shift revealed that the transport regulator had found itself without any operational boats, prompting a call for quotations to lease three RHIBs for 90 days to cover the summer period. A budget of €135,000, or €1,500 per day, was allocated to this contract, with the lowest offer, which is still being evaluated and submitted by Justin Lapira.

Instead of avoiding the leasing expense by ensuring that the necessary boats were purchased in time for summer, TM opted for the opposite approach. It first decided to lease for €135,000 and then, after the leasing call closed, chose to issue a tender for two new boats, which will only be delivered in winter when they are not in use.

Internal sources at TM described this latest RHIBs debacle as “a textbook case of mismanagement and waste of public funds.”

TM is managed by politically appointed CEO Kurt Farrugia, a former spokesman for disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat.