Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett’s professional partner, Architect Robert Sant, is applying for cost overruns on Manwel Dimech Bridge supervision contract that exceed Lm150,000, maltastar.com said last night.

This means that the contract, which originally was for Lm169,000, will cost over Lm300,000 if the request is approved.

Sant’s company Design & Technical Resources (DTR) had won the contract for the supervision of work on Manwel Dimech Bridge. Robert Sant is also director of another architectural firm, Sant & Mugliett Co Ltd. The two firms share the same premises.

Sources in the Transport Authority said that DTR applied for double the original price because work on the bridge will take almost double the time.

Work on the bridge should have been completed by this month, September. The minister had told Parliament that the target date for completion had been moved to 10 November. The latest estimate, according to reports in the media is that the bridge will be completed by June.