NEWS | Wednesday, 19 December 2007

No feasibility study conducted on Government’s projects for Marsamxett yet – Ministry spokesperson

Charlot Zahra

Government has not conducted yet a feasibility study on any of the projects listed in its plan for Marsamxett Harbour launched two weeks ago, claiming that it is too early to conduct these studies at this stage.
Asked whether a feasibility study had been conducted on each of the 22 projects listed in the Government’s plan for the Marsamxett Harbour or not and the reasons why, a spokesperson for the Ministry for Industry, Investments and IT (MIIT) told Business Today: “At a stage when a government is seeking broad consensus on an idea on which it can by no means be certain, it would be premature to undertake the sort of studies you describe.
“However there can be no doubt that before implementation, financial as well as several other studies will be necessary including, not least, studies required by the planning process,” the spokesperson for the Ministry said.
At the same time, the Ministry spokesperson insisted that the projects have not been proposed “willy-nilly”.
“A lot of research has gone into the current state of ownership, use or misuse, and planning policies for the entire coastline identifying pockets of opportunities for regeneration or development. This detailed research was also published at the events you seem to have missed out on but of course they remain available to you should you wish to consult them,” he told Business Today. The Ministry spokesperson explained that this stage was “extremely significant because any good idea can be simply blocked by the simple state of ownership of the land concerned or planning rules that govern it.
“As far as these matters are concerned, the projects proposed are doable and this can be stated with the confidence of in-depth research,” he insisted
Taking a swipe at the BusinessToday journalist, he claimed: “The nature of your question suggests that you were not present at any of the press conferences, public events or consultation meetings open to the press of either the Grand Harbour or the Marsamxett reports.”
The Ministry spokesperson skirted BusinessToday’s questions as to whether the projects proposed by the Government as part of its plan for Marsamxett Harbour had been costed individually and to give a breakdown of these costings if they had been made. Asked by Business Today whether the Government had identified any sources of funding that can be tapped for these projects such as EU funds or public-private partnerships and to identify the amount of funding that can be obtained from these sources, the Ministry spokesperson said: “The Government’s policy on the financing of public projects is explicit. Whatever can be delivered as a result of private sector investment should be delivered in that manner. Government funding should only be resorted to when no or insufficient commercial potential can be realised from the idea proposed.
“There are several projects contained in both vision documents that may resort to European funding as well but before the completion of detailed studies and costings for the projects any assessment of the monetary value of the funds to be sourced would be premature.
“Following the conclusion of the consultation process on the Grand Harbour, the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation has been instructed to draw up a high level prioritisation program that includes high level assessments of the commercial models to be adopted for the projects (concessions, public-private partnerships, public funding, etc.).
“Once adopted detailed work on the projects that have been identified for prioritisation can be kicked off.
“The process on the Marsamxett projects – that only kicked off two weeks ago – is due to follow the same route,” the Ministry spokesperson told Business Today.

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(See also page 6 for the views of the experts on the issue of feasibility studies and costings of major Government projects)