Although at least 10 private contractors and companies had collected tender documents for the Valletta Vertical Connections project being developed by the urban development and roads ministry, only two submissions had been received for the project by the expiry yesterday of the extended deadline.

One submission has been lodged by the Valletta Connection Consortium, comprised of KDM, the Gasan Group and the Tumas Group. A second submission from Bastion Enterprises, made up of Techno Lifts, was, however, found to have been incompletely filed but an Urban Development and Roads ministry spokesperson confirmed that both bidders were still in the running for the prestigious project.

The tenders are first being evaluated for their compliance with technical requirements, after which the financial aspect of the offers will fall under scrutiny. The ministry plans to complete the evaluation process by 14 March.

The multifaceted project envisages a number of lifts and a funicular service linking the parking areas in Valletta’s ditches to the heart of the city by means of lifts, escalators and funicular trains – also known as cable cars or inclined railways.

Hundreds of new parking spaces, added to the existent Park and Ride system, are also to be created through the project and, as such, vehicular traffic through Valletta would drop drastically.

The project will provide the first vertical connection for Valletta since the Upper Barrakka lift service was discontinued in 1974.

The ministry had recently extended the deadline for submissions for the project to yesterday, in order to allow interested parties more time in which to draw up their proposals.

The winning bidder will be able to run the project for 15 years and is expected to start relieving Valletta of its traffic problems by mid-2008.

In addition to incorporating the city’s parking zones with central Valletta, the project will also see most of Valletta becoming pedestrianised. The project is expected to cost in the region of Lm1.5 million and to cover a total area of 39,000 square metres.

It is expected to render Valletta more accessible, while also rehabilitating degenerated areas and historical assets of the capital.

The funicular service will transport commuters from near the Customs House on the Valletta ring road to St James Ditch, where they will then board a panoramic lift to Castille Square. A new lift will also be installed in the Yellow Garage area to take people to Freedom Square. The system will be able to carry 1,000 passengers an hour.