Miriam Dalli’s Bormla garden project hits fresh delay after tender appeal

A long-promised €11 million “green” project in Bormla championed by Environment Minister Miriam Dalli has hit another setback after an appeal was filed over the tendering process, further delaying works that were originally meant to start in 2023.

Project Green, the government agency responsible for the development, has recently awarded the tender for the project to Vassallo Builders Ltd for €10.7 million. Yet rival bidder CF Building Contractors has now challenged the decision, arguing that its offer was financially lower and that it was unfairly disqualified during the evaluation process.

The appeal is expected to prolong the already delayed project, which was first announced with considerable fanfare by Minister Dalli almost three years ago – one of the many projects she announced that were never delivered.

At a press conference held in Bormla in 2023, Dalli announced that work on the 3,000-square-metre site would begin in September of that year, promising residents a new community garden complete with a “meditation area” within less than two years.

Nearly three years later and similar to almost all projects announced by Dalli, the site, currently a rundown open-air car park near the former dockyard area, remains untouched and in an even more dilapidated state than before. No construction works have commenced despite repeated announcements by the government.

The latest delay has once again placed Dalli and Project Green under scrutiny for what many residents describe as the agency’s failure to deliver major greening projects despite repeated promises and significant publicity through state coffers.

The Bormla project, which is now being promoted again as part of Labour’s electoral programme ahead of the 2026 elections, was initially presented as one of Project Green’s flagship urban regeneration initiatives.

So far, the only visible progress over the past years involved Project Green issuing a €1 million direct order to architect Edwin Mintoff, a known Labour Party insider, to design the project and manage planning procedures with the Planning Authority.

According to tender documents, the project is now expected to be completed by 2028 at the earliest, assuming the unlikely scenario that work eventually starts this year.

The plans include the construction of a 240-car underground parking facility topped by a public garden and landscaped open space. The project also involves dismantling an old gantry crane formerly used by Malta Drydocks.

The site itself has long been associated with controversy.

Until recently, the parcel of public land formed part of the concession granted to Jordanian investors for the controversial American University of Malta project, one of the most criticised deals struck under disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s administration.

The area had originally been earmarked for student dormitories linked to the university project, which has repeatedly failed to meet concession milestones established by the government.

Ironically, the architect, Mintoff,  who had originally designed the proposed dormitory complex for the American University of Malta, was later engaged by Project Green to redesign the same site into a public garden through the €1 million direct order.

Following widespread protests and strong opposition from Bormla residents, Prime Minister Robert Abela eventually reversed the original development plans after succeeding Muscat as Labour leader.