A heated exchange in parliament last night saw Joe Mizzi drop the biggest hint yet that the contract signed with Autobuses de Leon will probably be tabled in parliament sometime in March, once an extensive information campaign is launched.

The issue arose after opposition MP Jason Azzopardi asked Mr Mizzi to table the contract, reminding him that he had already called on him to do so at the beginning of January. Dr Azzopardi said that Mr Mizzi had pledged to do so in the second week of January, which has, of course, already gone.

Mr Mizzi launched into a tirade about the previous administration's reticence in publishing the Arriva contract, which, he said, was eventually published 11 months after the PL opposition had requested it to be tabled in parliament. To add insult to injury, he said, the Transport Minister of the time had published the contract with parts of it removed.

Mr Mizzi said the government will publish the contract at the right time, and when the general public is fully informed of the new public transport operator's remit and structure plan. To this end, and this is where the hint of the date came out, an extensive information campaign will be launched in March. "We are doing this so as to make sure that we do not repeat the mistakes that were made by the previous government when the Arriva service was launched in 2011," said Mr Mizzi.

Mr Mizzi went on to list the debacles which came to light when Arriva wanted to pull out of Malta. "Arriva was demanding a €45m subsidy to operate the routes which this government proposed. The new operator will be implementing those routes against a subsidy of €29m," he said.

He also reminded the house that Arriva wanted to liquidate its assets and that is where the government stepped in to buy the company for a euro so as to safeguard the jobs of employees and to ensure that transitional company would continue to service the public's needs.

Mr Mizzi said that despite the opposition's negative campaign against Malta Public Transport Services, the company saw a decrease in complaints, more passengers using the service, higher ticket sales and more maintenance on vehicles, leading to less breakdowns.

Mr Mizzi also attacked the opposition for the position they took in trying to undermine negotiations with Scottish company McGill and National Express. "If National Express thought this government was so hard to work with, then we have to ask how come Autobuses de Leon - one if its subsidiary companies - is now the new operator in Malta," said Mr Mizzi.

In a parting shot, Mr Mizzi said that the new service - which is already operative - has resulted in better service on more routes without putting extra cost burdens on users of the service. "This, in contrast to the previous government that spent €1 million on consultancies that resulted in utter chaos on our roads," concluded Mr Mizzi.