Parliament’s Committee on the Accounts of the National Audit Office yesterday started discussing a motion about the Valletta Vertical Connections project, moved by Urban Development and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett.

The motion proposes that a tract of land lying under City Gate and the Upper Barrakka should be passed to the Transport Authority which would give rights over it to the Valletta Connections Consortium. The idea is to initiate the vertical access project for Valletta – which is unlikely to come about soon, with general elections imminent.

The project would incorporate the re-instatement of a Valletta lift and facilitate trade which would lead to development and the creation of new jobs in the centre of the capital and around Grand Harbour. Two bodies had shown interest in a call for applications issued by the Transport Authority in December, 2006. The Valletta Connections Consortium ended the preferred bidder.