Grand Harbour Restoration Project Chairman Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi has said that MP familiarisation visits to the new Parliament building can occur soon.

For the most part, he said during a meeting of the House Business Committee, that most problems have been solved with final works and checks currently being made.

He was speaking during the House Business Committee which is meeting in Parliament this evening.

The conversation turned to security, with both the GHRC Chairman as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives Anglu Farrugia highlighting the need for more security. The Speaker spoke of the need for more executive security, given the design of the building and its openness. He stressed that discussions are under-way with the Commissioner for police, and that a system similar to the one used by the House of Commons, but not identical will be used. Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi said that on the technological side, the security measures are in place.

A new system will require some getting used to by the operators as well as the MPs themselves... and training for the operators is needed, the GHRC Chairman argued. One such change would be that MPs might be required to use cards in order to operate the microphones.

Live-streaming has been tested and they are working, he said. As for parking, the Speaker said that he is insisting on parking near the Central Bank, however the final solution has yet to be found.

Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi argued that Wi-Fi works excellently and mock exercises in Parliament can occur as early as 1 April.

An actual date for Parliament to transfer buildings was not given. He did say, however that staff would probably be able to begin migrating to the new building by 27 March.

PN Whip David Agius questioned how images of the new Parliament used in the presentation were shown on PBS while the presentation was still ongoing. He said it was disrespectful for such images to be sent to the media before shown during the committee.