It is incredible that the Minister responsible for public works is defending the covering of the picnic area at Ta' Qali with gravel while at the same time admitting that a serious mistake may have been made, the Nationalist Party said Wednesday

Even more alarming is the fact that, for Minister Chris Bonett, it is as though nothing has happened at all, since in his own words, if the project fails, a remedy can simply be found.

Minister Bonett also admitted that the failure of this project will have cost the Maltese people a significant sum, with taxpayers having forked out a third of a million euro for this project.

Bonett also defended the awarding of this €300,000 contract by direct order to a contractor with very close ties to the Prime Minister, claiming that in this case it was right to issue a direct order, despite the fact that less than two weeks ago it was confirmed that the gravel had been laid without a permit, without any environmental impact study, and without obtaining the permits required by law.

Pressed to admit that public procurement law was breached when a project of this value was awarded by direct order instead of through a public tender, Bonett incredibly continued to defend the way matters were handled at Ta' Qali, stating that mechanisms of this kind are sometimes necessary to deliver certain infrastructure projects, the PN said.

Bonett avoided answering whether the law had been broken or whether corruption could have been involved when, instead of issuing a public call, a direct order was granted for a value far exceeding the €10,000 limit permitted under the regulations.

Chris Bonett's defence in this case was that if there are bad intentions, corruption can happen regardless - even if a public call for tenders had been issued instead of a direct order.

Minister Bonett also attempted to reassure the public by saying that one can do a million good things and a million less good ones, and that sometimes we should not be afraid to admit mistakes.

What Chris Bonett failed to tell us, however, is who will shoulder responsibility for such a serious blunder, and who will compensate the Maltese people for the taxpayers' money spent on this mistake.

Meanwhile, the Maltese public continues to wait for the grass in the picnic area at Ta' Qali to grow back, despite assurances from the former Labour Party Secretary General and Robert Abela's Special Delegate that after the first rainfall the site would once again be covered in a natural green carpet, allowing families to enjoy it again - to the extent that water bowsers were even sent in at night to water the gravel, the PN said.