Negotiations on the White Rocks Project are currently underway and have reached an advanced stage, Economy Minister Chris Cardona has told The Malta Independent.
A call for expression of interest was announced in 2014, and given the failure of past projects earmarked for the area, specifically under PN administrations, critics have begun to raise concerns that the latest initiative may prove to be yet another white elephant.
Asked the specifically about the delays in finalising the agreement, the Minister said: “As one can appreciate, this is an extensive project and consequently the Government, in cooperation with the Privatisation Unit, is committed to negotiate the best possible deal to ensure that this site, which for many years has been left abandoned, will be regenerated in such a manner so that it can contribute to Malta’s thriving economy and tourism industry.”
Speaking on TVM in November 2014, the Minister had said that he would be “tying [his] political career with the success of its investment”.
Asked whether he still stood by this assertion, the Minister said that he is “confident that the White Rocks Project will be yet another contributor to Malta’s already robust economy.” However, he did not reply when asked whether the project would be completed by the end of this legislature in five years’ time, and whether he would resign should the development fail to materialise.
An expression on interest for the site was launched in June 2014 to much fanfare after the government earmarked the site for upmarket real estate development, which included five-star hotels and luxury units.
The 135,600 square metres of the White Rocks complex would only cover 38% of the project area, which is 45 hectares (449,885 square meters) in total.
Addressing a press conference at the time, Cardona said that the government was bound to deliver on the project, after successive failures by Nationalist administrations. The PN government had initially issued a call for proposals in 1999, only to announce in 2010 the now-infamous €200 million sports village project that failed to get off the ground.
Eleven proposals had been submitted in the call for expressions of interest in the project, and it was White Rocks Development Company, a consortium made up of a number of local and foreign companies, that was declared as the preferred bidder following a transparent and competitive selection process spear headed by the Privatisation Unit.