The government is soon to issue a call for proposals for the development of a maritime hub soon, Minister for Economy Chris Cardona said in parliament this evening, eventually bringing the consultative process to an end.

Dr Cardona was replying to a parliamentary question by PN MP Kristy Debono who asked the minister what has been done to date related to the project.

An international expression of interest to convert a redundant shipbuilding facility into an international maritime hub had been launched by the government at the end of May.

Dr Cardona had said that the site, at Marsa, measures around 175,000m2.

Dr Cardona said that the government started off by issuing  call for expressions of interest for interested parties to submit their innovative proposals related to the maritime hub.

In June, a number of interested parties did submit their proposals after the relevant documents were made available from the Privatisation Unit.

He said that the proposals were in fact reviewed by the unit and the next move will be the issuing of a request for proposals, which means that interested parties would have to present their proposals in terms of finances.

It is planned the maritime hub would host ship repairs, bunkering facilities, maritime-related insurance offices and a shipbuilding, excluding that it would also host a container terminal, same as the Malta Freeport, since the port enjoys exclusivity in this regard.

A total of 28 international expressions of interest for the development of the Maritime Hub at the site of the former shipbuilding in Marsa have been received by the Privatisation Unit.