The final cost of the Central Link is projected to be circa €25 million, a spokesperson for Infrastructure Malta told The Malta Independent, adding that the project “is expected to be concluded with circa €3 million savings on the original contract value.”

However, the €6 million Mriehel underpass project is being considered as a separate project, and is not part of those figures. Thus meaning that if the projections are correct, around €31 million in total will be spent on these two projects.

Variations amounting to around €2.6 million to the contract awarded to Link-2018 Joint Venture, for the construction of the Central Link - upgrading of the road corridor at Mriehel, Birkirkara, Attard and Rabat, including the supply and planting of new trees, were published in a recent Government Gazette, sparking concerns that the project was going over budget. This newsroom sent questions to Infrastructure Malta, asking what the variations were for and how much the Central Link project is now expected to cost.

The spokesperson responded that the Central Link project’s initial estimate when it was launched in 2018 was €55 million. “The value of the contract awarded to the project’s contractor following a call for tenders stood at €28.4 million. The final cost of the project, including all variations (additions and reductions) to the original contract, is projected to be circa €25 million, significantly less than the original contract value. This amount will be confirmed in the coming months when the ongoing measurements and certification of works actually carried out are completed.”

The spokesperson said that Infrastructure Malta completed the Central Link Project in January

As for details about the variations to the Central Link contract mentioned in the Gazette, the spokesperson said that variations are permissible by law and stipulated as part of the normal, long-established conditions of all works contracts. “These conditions allow for variations of up to 50% of the original contract values to make sure that if any such unforeseen requirements are identified, works can continue without unnecessary delays."

The variations required to complete the Central Link Project contract included additional works and modification of plans to preserve archaeological features uncovered during the project’s excavation works, as well as the upgrading of the project’s asphalt to the longer-lasting polymer-modified material that the agency started using in arterial roads in 2020, he said. Infrastructure Malta had not yet introduced this type of asphalt in Malta when the project’s call for tenders was issued in 2018, the spokesperson added.

“While works were in progress, the agency also received requests from the utilities for additional new underground sewers and telecommunication cable ducts, which had not been included in the original requirements. Another additional cost was incurred in the upgrading of the project’s vehicle restraint systems to the new system of concrete barriers that Infrastructure Malta started installing in Maltese roads in 2019, a year after the Central Link Project call for tenders was issued.”

“Having said that, variations to contracts do not necessarily mean that projects are exceeding their allocated budgets or contract values, since applicable conditions also permit the cancellation of materials and services included in the same contracts, reducing the final amounts ordered and paid.” The spokesperson said that such situations arise when works originally included in a contract are no longer required, due to unforeseen circumstances.

“In fact, as the figures above (for the Central Link project) confirm, when considering all variations, including additions and reductions, the Central Link Project is expected to be concluded with circa €3 million savings on the original contract value.”

But there is another project currently underway. Infrastructure Malta had launched the Mriehel Underpass Project in 2021, to build a new 60-metre tunnel connecting Mdina Road with the Mriehel Bypass, at the Mriehel junction next to the Malta Financial Services Authority offices.

Asked whether this is included in the amount spent on Central Link, or if it is considered a separate project, the spokesperson said that it is a separate project.

The Mriehel Underpass Project is projected to cost €6 million, the spokesperson said.

“Just like the Santa Lucija Roundabout Underpass Project was developed to extend the benefits of the Marsa Junction Project along the main route to southern Malta, Infrastructure Malta planned the Mriehel Underpass Project to augment the positive impacts of the Central Link Project in Attard, Balzan, Birkirkara and Mriehel,” the spokesperson said.

“Infrastructure Malta is implementing the Mriehel Underpass Project through savings made on the €55 million originally allocated for the Central Link Project,” the spokesperson added.

“The project works were awarded to Link-2018 Joint Venture, in line with applicable procurement regulations for new works consisting in the repetition of similar works entrusted to the economic operator to which the same contracting authorities awarded an original contract following a public call for tenders. Moreover, since one of the roads leading to the new junction, Mdina Road, was rebuilt in 2021 as part of the Central Link Project, it would not have been feasible or advisable to introduce different contractors along the same stretch of road. Such a change would have incurred additional mobilisation costs, as well as administrative and legal issues in the eventuality that Infrastructure Malta needs to claim for compensation for defects in the same road during the works’ guarantee period.”