A contractor, whose tender was accepted for the grant of

temporary emphyteusis of the Chalet structure and a site at Ghar id-Dud in Sliema filed a judicial protest in court yesterday after the authorities withdrew the letter of acceptance of its tender as the contractor had not managed to obtain a full development permit from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) within nine months, as laid down in the same letter.

C&F Building Contractors Ltd filed the protest against the Justice Ministry, the Director General of the Contracts Department, the Mepa chairman, the Lands Department director and the Roads and Urban Develop-

ment Minister.

The company explained that on 8 March 2001, it submitted a tender for the grant, on temporary emphyteusis for a period of 65 years, of the Chalet structure and of a site at Ghar id-Dud in Sliema, at Lm152,000 per annum.

On 17 December 2001, the Lands Department wrote to the building contractor informing it that the government had accepted its tender under a number of conditions. In the last paragraph of this letter, the department said it “reserved the right to withdraw the letter of acceptance if the conditions are not complied with or if the full development permit is not obtained within nine months”.

On 8 February 2005, more than four years after sending the letter of acceptance, the Lands Department wrote to the company withdrawing the latter of acceptance.

In its letter, the department said that it had given the company “enough time” to obtain the full development permit, conclude the contract and begin the development.

The company claimed that since it had received the letter of acceptance, it had spent “hundreds of thousands of liri” undertaking various studies including ecological and hydrological surveys as well as traffic impact assessments of the project. It said that since then, it has held almost daily meetings with the authorities in order to finalise the plans so that Mepa could issue the full development permit.

C&F Building Contractors Ltd called on the authorities to retract the withdrawn letter of acceptance, and held them responsible for all the damages it has sustained and will sustain in the future as a result of the “illegal behaviour”.

Dr Kenneth Grima signed the writ.