The Maltese government will be meeting with Skanska, the company which was entrusted with building and providing a seismic design of Mater Dei Hospital which ended in a controversial political storm earlier this year following the revelation by government that sections of the concrete pillars at Mater Dei are allegedly defective.

According to sources this newsroom can reveal that government and the Scandinavian company are set to discuss the possibility of compensation from the company.

The sources have confirmed to The Malta Independent that the two parties are expected to ‘sit round a table’ to discuss a solution amid a waiver in the contract which, according to media reports, ought to have exonerated Skanska from any future disputes.

But government seems to have stuck to its guns on this issue, claiming that it was ready to take the dispute to the highest possible levels in an attempt to prove that Skanska is responsible for fraudulent workmanship.

 The contract between the Government of Malta and Skanska provides a legal framework in case of dispute but Skanska was reluctant to enter discussions up until a few weeks ago.

The sources who spoke to this newsroom mentioned the possibility of compensation without, however, giving any details as to what this compensation will consist of.

Minister for Health Chris Fearne had announced, back in October, that the government will be opening legal proceedings against Skanska over the alleged defective concrete supplied at Mater Dei. The minister had called a press conference three weeks after the most recent correspondence with the company in which Skanska refused to meet up with local authorities. It now seems that Skanska is ready to listen and evaluate government’s claims over alleged defective concrete.

According to Mr Fearne, the company is facing charges of fraud in Mexico. The minister did not divulge how much money the Maltese government will be asking for. However, he said that the amount is more than the €30 million which was previously mentioned when estimating the damage.

This newspaper asked the ministry to divulge what the name of the court case is and under which court will it fall, to which a spokesperson replied that the dispute resolution mechanism commenced in October of this year.

Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi had asked the Prime Minister in a Parliamentary Question, to give the details about the court case against Skanska. The Prime Minister replied that the government acted according to Article 7.1 of the agreement between the Foundation for Medical Services and Skanska JV, an agreement which was signed in February 2009.

The contract between the government and Skanska was first signed in 1995, entrusting the company to build the new hospital. The works started in October that same year. In February 2000, the contract was changed from construction to 'build and design'.

On May 2014, the government had decided to build two new wards, one of which on top of the emergency department. However, while conducting the safety report, it was found that the concrete was not of a high quality. Arup published a report which confirmed the problems and stated that it was not limited to the emergency ward.

Skanska had asked for more information while insisting it was not interested in reaching an agreement.

Minister Fearne had explained that a waiver which allowed Skanska to get away with €200,000 in damages caused to a water reservoir which also had defective concrete made life harder for the government to build a case. After consulting with the lawyers, Minister Fearne said that the government will be contesting this waiver.