Just over €75,000 was spent on the event where the government unveiled plans and studies into the proposed metro project.

Information tabled in Parliament by Transport Minister Ian Borg showed that a total of €76,981.76 was spent on the event, which was held on 2 October.

The information was shared following a parliamentary question asked by PN MP Toni Bezzina.

The metro system as proposed will include three metro lines with a total of 35km of tracks and 25 stations across Malta's main urban area. The study suggests that the metro system will mostly be underground, with a small part of it above ground between Naxxar and Bugibba.

The metro is estimated to cost around €6.2 billion to build in a time span of between 15 to 20 years, with €3.9 billion for a first phase to be delivered after between five to eight years.

It will reach as far as Bugibba in the north and Cospicua in the south, with a stop at the airport too.

There has been much debate since the proposal was unveiled however, with various members of the government saying that it was not set in stone and that it could change.

Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri for instance when interviewed by The Malta Independent on Sunday did not exclude the possibility of a metro reaching Malta’s sister island, despite it not being in the original plans submitted as part of the feasibility study.

It’s not the first time that the government had opened its wallet for press conferences: €85,000 was spent over two separate inaugurations for part of the Marsa junction.

Ian Borg had batted away criticism by pointing out that the cost of the final inauguration was a third of the €141,770 spent for the inauguration of the €1.2 million Pjazza San Gorg project in 2009 and around half of the €80,123 which was spent to inaugurate a €10 million Arriva bus terminus in July 2011.