Miriam Dalli takes Bormla for a ride

Labour treats the residents of Cospicua like idiots.  It takes the residents of Cottonera for granted because no matter how badly Labour treats them, the vast majority still vote Labour.

On 16 January 2023 Minister Miriam Dalli launched Project Green with typical bombast:  “Є700 million will be invested for the public to enjoy green spaces a short walk from their home.” 

“The projects,” she added, “will be planned by the people and delivered for the people… Project Green will focus on delivering quality projects”.

On 5 May 2023, Project Green announced that the public space that had been given by Labour to the American University of Malta (AUM) to build a five-storey dormitory would instead be turned into a public space with a picnic area, space for parkour, a playground, a gym and a garden together with a three-storey underground car park for 220 cars.  Project Green invited residents and the local council for a consultation exercise on the 3000 sqm Bormla project.

On 30 August 2023, Miriam Dalli again “announced” that the land earmarked for the AUM dormitory would be turned into a public garden with underground car park. By now, the Bormla dream project also included a nature hut, a nursing area for parents, a meditation and relaxation space and toilets.  Dalli claimed that “plans have been filed with the Planning Authority with work expected to begin at the end of September 2023”.  

Almost two years later, no work has been done on the Bormla project.  The trees and plants that Dalli promised are nowhere to be seen.

On 29 September 2023, Project Green tried to milk some more media exposure.  It bragged that the newly designed garden in Cospicua would prioritise mental health.  TVM broadcast more fanciful claims that the area would be transformed into an open space with trees and vegetation.

Richmond Foundation chief executive Daniela Calleja Bitar was roped into the propaganda exercise.  She claimed that Project Green’s Bormla project would “aid the mental health of mothers and children residing at Dar Teresa”.

The end of September 2023 came and went.  No work was done.

On 9 January 2024, Project Green announced it had filed plans with the Planning Authority to build a “new green lung and underground car park in Cospicua”.  Hadn’t Miriam Dalli told us that those plans were submitted in August 2023?

On 17 September 2024, Project Green’s new CEO Joseph Cuschieri sought some more publicity for himself.  In a new media blitz, he bragged that Project Green was working on 118 different projects with an investment of Є350 million: “The size of 240 football fields,” he said.

He promised that in 2025, 120,000sqm of land would be regenerated in 19 new projects.  He promised Cottonera residents that “physical work will begin on projects such as the open space project in Bormla… We will continue to strengthen our resources and internal processes to ensure the work is carried out competently with a structured system of governance”. 

The following month, October 2024, Miriam Dalli joined Joseph Cuschieri in some more empty hype.  “Work will ramp up throughout 2025 with 22 more projects worth Є115 million – these projects include the ex-AUM car park in Bormla”.

As soon as 2025 was inaugurated, Joseph Cuschieri was back to his empty propaganda.  On 12 January, Project Green’s CEO boldly announced:  “Project Green will be showing that it is delivering… will be much more active”. 

He reminded the country that he’s so important that he’s managing Є350 million of our money on 120 projects “slated for delivery between 2025 and 2027”. 

The deadlines keep stretching, the promises get wilder, the number of projects mushrooms and the delivery consistently fails.  “The portfolio keeps increasing every month with new project requests,” he said.

“By the end of the year (2025), the agency will be completing 20 projects amounting to 130,000sqm… by the end of March 2025, the agency plans to issue and start 20 new projects, including high profile initiatives such as the Bormla garden”. 

On 16 August 2025, Project Green had some news about the Bormla project. “Project Green is currently finalising the tenders, targeting publication by no later than the end of October 2025”.  Project Green has still not finalised the tenders.  The Planning Authority approved the project in November 2024.  Why did it take Project Green a year to finalise the tenders?

Miriam Dalli promised that the Bormla project would start by September 2023, then by March 2025. It’s now extremely unlikely to start even by the end of 2025. If the tender is actually published by end of October, there’s not enough time to accept bids, evaluate them, select the contractor, wait for the appeals period and then award the tender to a contractor by end of year – unless, of course, that contractor is already selected.

What has certainly been selected is the architect for the project. Architect Edwin Mintoff, the nephew of Cospicua’s hero Dom Mintoff,  has been awarded a staggering Є1 million direct order.

Mintoff was the architect engaged by AUM to build their dormitory.  When Labour decided to take back the land from AUM, Mintoff lost his brief. So Labour decided to compensate him.

Cuschieri was busy squandering millions more of our money recruiting his own friends and acquaintances to Project Green. He recruited no less than 19 new managers, all on lucrative salaries and even more lucrative perks, many of them with little to no experience.  

Beverly Cutajar, an old friend of Cuschieri’s, whom he hired at MFSA and MGA gets Є80,000 annually as Project Green’s Chief Officer for People and Culture.  Meanwhile, she also chairs the Malta Film Commission and runs her private consultancy, Think Talent. 

So while the good people of Bormla continue to wait for their promised green lung that prioritises mental health, they’re driven insane by Cuschieri’s rampant abuse and Dalli’s hollow promises of “quality projects”.