The Covid-19 pandemic has affected plans for the Malta-Gozo tunnel, with consultations forced to be put on hold, Infrastructure Malta has confirmed.

The Malta Independent on Sunday contacted Infrastructure Malta to ask if discussions about the tunnel are currently ongoing and how the plans for the tunnel have been affected by the pandemic.

In response, it said that “some studies necessitating consultations and questionnaires with numerous stakeholders were temporarily put on hold, in line with the health authorities’ recommendations and to ensure that the socioeconomic results of these inquiries are not influenced by the current predominant conditions imposed by the pandemic.”

Although these consultation and questionnaire-led studies have been put on hold for the time being, other studies were untouched by the pandemic.

“Ongoing desktop studies were not affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and its containment measures during the last 12 months and are still in progress.”

In February of this year, Infrastructure Malta CEO Frederick Azzopardi said during an interview on TVM’s Insights that the general public will know whether the tunnel will be built by the end of 2021.

Azzopardi said that Infrastructure Malta is still in its first stage of the tendering process, known as the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) stage, whereby prospective bidders submit documentation and information to prove that they are capable of overseeing the project as a whole. Four submissions in total were received from international companies and consortia.

Infrastructure Malta confirmed it is still in this stage of the process when contacted by this newsroom.

“An evaluation board is currently assessing the pre-qualification questionnaires received from these participants, on the basis of the pre-established criteria defined in the PQQ documentation published in January,” it said.

Once the successful companies have been selected, they will qualify to the second stage, known as the Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD). At this point, the companies will be required to submit technical and financial plans of the tunnel’s structure, implementation, operation and maintenance solutions.

“It is at this stage that we’ll decide whether the project will go forward or not,” Azzopardi had said on Insights.

Despite Azzopardi’s description of the tunnel, Infrastructure Malta confirmed that it has a vision of the tunnel that will surpass the ITPD stage.

“Following the ITPD stage, the selection process will be concluded with the Best and Final Offer (BAFO) stage,” it said. “Bidders who participate in the ITPD stage will have the opportunity to submit a final proposal for the project. This will include a detailed technical and financial offer based on the solution proposed in the previous stage. The selection team will then identify and recommend the best offer based on pre-established criteria.”

Alongside the tendering process of the tunnel, Infrastructure Malta also said that it is undergoing an extensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project – a process whereby the environmental consequences of the project will be assessed. The assessment will be led by a team of independent experts approved by the planning and environmental authorities.

“The EIA will be completed after the proposed tunnel plans are optimised and confirmed through ongoing procurement process, so that the assessment can take into consideration all specifications of the final design,” Infrastructure Malta said.

The EIA will be published for the general public to consult once it is completed, although it is not clear when this will be.

This newsroom also asked Infrastructure Malta for a response to a Nationalist Party statement issued in early March, where Opposition Spokesperson for Gozo Chris Said called the government to be more transparent about the plans for the Malta-Gozo tunnel. The statement also accused Infrastructure Malta about “lying about the actual tunnel”.

To this, Infrastructure Malta told The Malta Independent on Sunday that it is “committed to full transparency and dialogue in the planning of this long-awaited project” and has strived to publicize all of its findings.

“All completed studies are already publicly available and Infrastructure Malta has already committed itself to publish further studies as soon as they are completed and to open the final plans for public consultation,” it said. The published studies have covered a myriad of subjects, among them “preliminary geophysical and geological investigations based on land and seabed core samples extracted along the proposed tunnel route, traffic flow studies, terrestrial and marine surveys and more.”

Additionally, it also noted that the tunnel was discussed in Parliament last year, with the Government and the Opposition unanimously voting in favour of the project.

“Other studies will be made available as soon as they are completed,” it concluded.