Michael Falzon, the Labour Party’s spokesman for home affairs, has called for an independent and transparent investigation into the way the government handed over the Civil Protection Department’s only fire-fighting premises in Ħal Far to a private company.

When Dr Falzon raised the matter at another press conference earlier this month, the Home Affairs Ministry denied that the Civil Protection Department (CPD) had transferred any land, signed a land transfer contract or involved itself in any deal of the sort, and gave no further details.

But in a statement issued late yesterday afternoon in reaction to Dr Falzon’s remarks, the Fair Competition, Small Businesses and Consumers Ministry spoke about an agreement being signed in April 2000 and a tender issued in April 2010. The ministry accused the Opposition of twisting the facts to create obstacles to private investors.

During the press conference, the Labour MP referred to replies to parliamentary questions (PQ) in which the government confirmed that there was some form of agreement dating back to 2000, by which the Ħal Far fire-fighting premises had been transferred to a private company.

In 2006, then Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg referred to a “concession” of part of the grounds in the Ħal Far fire station area to Alberta Company Ltd. The area includes the grounds, the “smoke house” and other buildings, said Dr Borg, adding that the fire station and an area to the east belongs to the CPD, while the “smoke house” is used by both Alberta and the CPD.

Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici had answered two PQs on the matter previously, in 2009 and 2010. He had said that by means of an agreement signed on 7 April 2000, a private company was given the right to use the “service and facilities” within the fire-fighting training grounds of the Ħal Far fire station. The agreement was valid for a four-year period and could be renewed automatically every three years.

In his reply to the second PQ in 2010, the minister noted that the agreement had been signed in the presence of then government notary Franco Pellegrini, and was therefore legal. The contract says that the private company has to pay an annual fee of €16,305 and a percentage of the income from training course fees.

The Labour Party’s spokesman described the situation as scandalous and the agreement with the private company as illegal. The CPD was left with no fire fighting facilities of its own, he said.

“The transfer of land such as that in Ħal Far is usually done a call for tenders or a parliamentary resolution, but in this case we haven’t even been given details related to the title of land. Moreover, the same company also uses another stretch of government land in the vicinity of the fire station.”

The Labour MP went on to say that a particular director at the Lands Department had disassociated himself from the case, and even an official at the Parliamentary Secretariat for Lands had declared during a meeting that the agreement with the company was illegal.

“This is gutter politics. Is the agreement lawful or not? We have a situation whereby the contents of the CPD’s stores had to be emptied and placed in containers and CPD personnel haven’t got fire fighting training facilities.”

The Labour MP added that the new CPD director had refused to endorse the agreement when he was asked to do so by the director of the Lands Department.

“Someone needs to start shouldering responsibility and we need a proper investigation,” said Dr Falzon, adding that he will insist that the government tables the agreement in Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Fair Competition, Small Businesses and Consumers Ministry, which is responsible for lands, said that contrary to what Dr Falzon said, a tender for the land concession had been issued and the process was a transparent one. The ministry added that the CPD could still use the facilities after the Civil Aviation Department and the private company signed the agreement in 2000.

The Opposition is twisting the facts, making false allegations and drawing wrong conclusions, said the ministry. While saying that it supports private investment, the Opposition has actually been trying to create obstacles.

The PL has clearly shown that it doesn’t know the basic facts about the Ħal Far facilities, for which there was a temporary emphytheusis, said the ministry. The tender, which was issued in April 2010, was awarded to the only bidder – International Safety Training Centre Ltd (ISTC) in that same year.

The ministry attached a map indicating an area (C) covering 23,080 square metres that the CPD has been using for several years and which it can still use. The agreement between the Civil Aviation Department and the ISTC in the year 2000 was for the company to be able to use two other areas (B and D) against an annual fee of €16,305 and a percentage of the income from training course fees.

The ministry explained that following the publication of the tender a year ago, the Lands Department and the ISTC signed a contract for a 50-year emphytheusis, which will cost the company €33,000 annually.

Areas B and D were handed over in 2000 so that the company could invest and create job opportunities and, over the years, it invested millions of euros to upgrade the site and promote Malta as a centre of excellence in this sector, said the ministry.