Cospicua mayor Joseph Scerri confirmed with The Malta Independent yesterday that Cospicua local council has not yet given the government any sum of money in connection with the Cottonera Garden project.

Mr Scerri told this newspaper that he had never signed any form of agreement or made any form of payment, as had been reported recently in the local media.

“I never signed any agreement or paid any sum of money to the government. We are waiting for them to contact us to sign an agreement where by we will give them a total of Lm15,000,” said Mr Scerri.

“We know that we have a commitment with the Resources and Infrastructure Ministry but we do not have any details about how this will be implemented. We are waiting for them to send for us,” he explained.

The controversy emerged during the opening of the garden at Cospicua last Sunday. The council boycotted the event over the name given to the garden and its four public squares. Speaking to this newspaper on Sunday, Mr Scerri had said that the name “Cospicua” was only used in a derogatory way, while government projects in the area always bear the name “Cottonera”.

A spokesman from the Resources and Infrastructure Ministry pointed out that there was an agreement under which Cospicua local council would contribute a total of Lm15,000 over three years.

“This amount adds up to four per cent of the total cost of the project. The local council was to make three payments of Lm5,000 a year from when the project started, ie last year,” he explained.

The spokesman said that, originally, the project was supposed to be carried out by the government in collaboration with the local councils from the Three Cities: Cospicua, Vittoriosa, Senglea, together with Kalkara.

However, he added, the three other councils had decided to opt out of the partnership and Cospicua local council had offered to contribute Lm15,000.

The spokesman said that at the first meeting held with Cospicua local council around three weeks ago, no negative comments had been made, including on the subject of the name of the garden.

In fact, he added, Mr Scerri had suggested including the invitations with the magazine that is issued by the local council. However, this suggestion was refused because the invitations would not have been printed in time to be included with the magazine.

“If Mr Scerri had any problems with the name of the garden, then he should have raised the issue during that meeting,” he said.

Furthermore, the spokesman added, the Cospicua mayor would not have suggested including the invitations in the local council magazine if he had had any problems with the name.