The Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology said it has instructed the Water Services Corporation to publish details regarding claims made by contractors engaged to develop the Malta (North) and the Gozo Sewage Treatment Plants.
The tender for the works on the Malta north sewage treatment plant was awarded to a joint venture composed of IBI Idrobioimpianti S.p.A and Polidano Group and the situation regarding variations claimed is as follows:
Claimed by
Contractor EUR4.02m
Claims determined
by WSC EUR3.73m
= 94% of claims
Accepted by WSC EUR0.42 m = 11% of claims
Rejected by WSC EUR3.31 m = 82% of claims
Practically all accepted claims relate to additional expenses caused by changes in the location of the plant ordered by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority at a late stage and after the tendering process, a ministry and WSC joint statement said.
The tender for works on the Gozo plant was awarded to Degremont S.p.A and C & F Building Contractors Ltd and the situation regarding variations claimed is as follows:
Claimed by
Contractor EUR3.29m
Claims determined
by WSC EUR1.57 m = 48% of claims
Accepted by WSC EUR 0.32 m
10% of claims
Rejected by WSC
EUR1.25 m = 38% of claims
All accepted claims relate to variations in the plant’s design instructed by the WSC after the conclusion of the procurement process.
The statement said that considering that the total contract value for both plants is EUR15.5 million the fact that WSC has accepted only a total of EUR0.74 million (Lm317,000) in variations equivalent to 4.77 per cent of the contract value, is ample evidence on the seriousness that WSC has adopted to oversee the process. It should be pointed out that the percentage variation is more than acceptable according to international standards and falls well within the normal contingency that one provides for these contracts.
The above facts are also evidence “of the malicious campaign that is being run by the Opposition, a campaign based on lies and insinuations where MP Joe Mizzi, Maltastar and Super 1 are all pushing to ensure that the claims for variations made by the contractors are accepted by the WSC in order that their lies are justified”.
Notwithstanding the unhelpful attitude of the Opposition, the WSC will continue to adopt a professional review policy in order to accept only those variations that are entirely justified, the statement said
The ministry also took the opportunity to repeat that – “as clearly stated by Minister Austin Gatt in parliament’s Public Accounts Committee but is being repeatedly mis-reported by Super 1, Maltastar, the Labour Party and writers of their ilk” – the government members of the PAC will have absolutely no problem in supporting a motion that asks the Auditor General to review all the variations claimed, accepted or rejected.
The problem, the statement added, was that the Opposition has not – as yet – tabled such a motion and the only motion that it tabled was meant to assist the Leader of the Opposition in finding an excuse not to appear before the PAC and justify claims he had made with respect to other matters. Should the Opposition file a motion solely asking the Auditor General to review the variations, it would find the Minister’s immediate support.