The architect responsible for the road project on Triq l-Imġarr in Nadur, Gozo, Godwin Agius, has his office registered to a premises that belongs to Minister Clint Camilleri's mother, the Nationalist Party has said.
PN MPs Alex Borg and Joe Giglio said that Agius was paid over €700,000 via a direct order to manage the road project. This project ended up costing €18.5 million; it was originally budgeted at €8 million, meaning it went over budget by €10.5 million, as previously highlighted by an NAO report.
The Auditor General had described this road project as "an exercise of bad administration, lack of planning, characterised by confusion and negligence in the spending of public funds, and the wild spending of money on studies that were not needed."
Additionally, Agius is also an executive member of the Planning Authority, which also falls under Minister Camilleri's remit, is the chairman of the construction industry licensing committee within the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), and was also appointed as chairman of Interconnect Malta - the entity responsible for handling the major second interconnector project, the PN said.
Alex Borg said that the Ministry for Gozo is yet to reply to queries about the project and about Perit Agius from the Nationalist Party, journalists, as well as the National Audit Office (NAO).
The party added that no explanation has been given about Agius' address by Minister Camilleri, nor on details relating to the moorings case on which a request to launch a magisterial inquiry had been filed, but was rejected.
He said that over the past few months, the country witnessed how Prime Minister Robert Abela continues to defend the Minister for Gozo and Planning, Clint Camilleri. In this regard, Borg referenced Amanda Muscat's consultancy row that led to "no consequences for Clint Camilleri," in spite of his involvement.
Giglio remarked that this story highlighting the closeness between Camilleri and Agius "shows us that the government has failed in its promise for meritocracy."
"What meritocracy is this to effectively appoint close friends who work in your mother's owned premises, under which the Minister's own home address is listed?" Giglio questioned.
While condemning these recent findings, Giglio said that during the last Budget speech, the national budget on Gozo decreased overall from the previous year.
He said that the government believes that less money should be allocated towards the island of Gozo, however, giving €700,000 to an architect who works from the address of the Minister's mother's owned premises is a reasonable investment.
Giglio said that while the project around Triq l-Imġarr featured exorbitant costs, the state of Gozitan roads in general are in a sorry state.
In this light, he asked if people they are content with the state of roads across the Maltese islands, following the government's €700 million investment in them.
He concluded that the "government has failed" and "our country deserves much better." Borg and Giglio appealed for people to join PN's national protest on 9 March.