The Isle of MTV Malta Special, described as the best music festival in Europe, is to be held at the Granaries, Floriana, on Thursday, 26 July. The festival is being organised by the Tourism and Culture Ministry, in collaboration with G7, agents for MTV.

Famous singers such as Enrique Iglesias, Maroon 5 and Akon are expected to participate in the festival, along with local artists Ira Losco and G7’s resident DJs Toni Toni, Pierre Cordina, Ruby, Miss Roberta, Joseph Armani and Jjoy.

The music festival will be filmed by MTV and a special programme will be broadcast on MTV European television channels that cater for an audience of over 130 million viewers.

But concern has been expressed that although the free-of-charge concert will be financed by the government, through funds allocated to the Malta Tourism Authority and the Good Causes Fund, the government will pay out EUR700,000, with the remaining EUR125,000 shelled out by a private company.

However, all the revenue from this concert, which is expected to run into hundreds of thousands of euros, will be pocketed by the private company, according to reports.

The EUR125,000 investment by the private company will be recovered easily through advertising and sponsorship revenue for the event.

This means that the private company will have the exclusive right to sell drinks and food on the night, at no cost. Considering that this is a free-of-charge concert, it is anticipated that thousands of people will attend, with the private company set to earn thousands of euros in profits from a government-sponsored concert