Competitiveness and Communi-cations Minister Censu Galea said this following a two-hour meeting with officials of the General Workers’ Union, which is the owner of Cargo Handling Company Ltd – the company which so far operates the cargo handling at the port. Mr Galea said the government had informed the company that it will be issuing a call for tenders at the beginning of next year so that when Cargo Handlingís contract expires in July 2006, the government will have already chosen the company – which could also be Cargo Handling itself – which will be responsible for the handling of cargo at the ports. By that time “we will have decided on the parameters within which the new service provider will be operating”, he said.

Asked why the government was insisting so much on a ports reform, Mr Galea said the government has long been saying that operations at the ports needed to be reformed in order to be more competitive.

Replying to a question regarding the effect of the present prices charged by the Maltese ports on the local economy, Mr Galea said the charges – not only those charged by the Cargo Handling – had to be revised in order to increase the country’s competitiveness.

Replying to a question from TMID on the way forward, Mr Galea said that the government will now wait for the reaction of the Cargo Handling Company Ltd.

He said that government wants to have the tender document ready by the end of the year for it to be issued at the beginning of the new year.