Prime Minister Robert Abela said Sunday that later this week, the government will be signing the contract signalling the return of Manoel Island to the public.

This contract signing will end the long saga to terminate the 99-year Manoel Island concession with MIDI plc - which had planned to develop it - to turn the area into a green lung and a public park. In March last year, a parliamentary petition calling for this became one of the most signed parliamentary petitions in Malta's history, after garnering 29,057 signatures.

"This [past] week, we opened a part of [White Rocks] so it can be enjoyed by you and your families, and this week we will be signing the contract to retrieve and return Manoel Island to you," Prime Minister Abela said when addressing a mass meeting in Cottonera.

The Prime Minister said that this contract signing is "a dream that no-one expected to come to life." He noted how some critics believed that it would be impossible to accomplish Manoel Island's retrieval from the pre-existing development concession.

He also referenced his government's commitment to turn Fort Campbell into a national park, similarly to Manoel Island and White Rocks. He noted that the government had received 12,000 submissions in its public consultation for these three projects.

PM Abela added that "this is our plan, our vision, for what we are offering the country," quipping that meanwhile, the PN Opposition was showing the public "an AI render for a project in the middle of Marsa."

He told party supporters in attendance that the PL's movement is offering a long-term vision for the Maltese islands, and that, in his view, this is the only vision can secure people's and the country's future. He mentioned the recently announced 15-year mass transport plan, plans to grow the national economy, and other ongoing long-term projects as accomplishments that voters can recall for peace of mind that his Labour Party can serve as their "guarantee."

PM Abela remarked that Malta is currently in "dangerous territory" as "others are promising everything to everyone."

In a jab towards the Nationalist Party, Abela said that the Opposition's grand pledges are putting on display the difference between Malta's two major parties.

In this regard, he noted how after the PL announced its €1,000 "super bonus" measure to all Maltese and Gozitan workers, some people from the Opposition said on PN party media that this proposal is too good to be true, only for the PN to announce a similar, yet larger, "rebate guarantee" valued at €1,200 per person just 48 hours later.

The Prime Minister said that PN's rebate guarantee is not a credible pledge and that the Opposition wasn't even capable of providing accurate costings for this proposal. He added that, similarly, the PN's presentation on its proposal to reduce electricity bills was also "full of mistakes."

Abela also said that while his party's proposals are all well-costed and financially responsible, the PN's promises are riddled with miscalculations or "have costings that do not make sense." He said that this is the difference between those who are prepared to lead through a long-term plan and those who are rushing to come up with pledges.

"That is the difference between those who rush to promise and cannot be trusted, and us," PM Abela said, "With us, you know where you stand and you know where we're headed."

The Prime Minister also denounced the Opposition's proposal to construct an offshore maritime fuel hub at Hurd's Bank, calling it a "petrol pump in the middle of the sea."

Concluding his speech, PM Abela told PL supporters that his party is asking everyone for their support so that it can "continue leading this country to the next levels."

He said that the Labour Party is full of energy to keep working with love for the country and all Maltese and Gozitans residing in it.