Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1510125
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 OCTOBER 2023 NEWS IN COLLABORATION WITH Malta's Property Market Outlook Trends and Expectations | National Conference 2023 BOOK NOW TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT Date: 3 November 2023 Time: 8:00 - 14:30 Venue: Intercontinental Hotel, St. Julian's Fee: €60 (incl. coffee break and networking lunch) The conference will be conducted in Maltese. when asked whether his company carried out due diligence on Far- rugia before engaging his services or entering into a commercial re- lationship with him. He also skirted around anoth- er question whether Bonnici Brothers was ill-advised to en- gage Farrugia on energy projects given his dubious past in the same sector. Bonnici also skirted around a question as to whether Farrugia is on ENV's payroll or whether he invoices ENV for his services as CEO. The incinerator bidding process was mired in controversy when the Contracts Department in June 'mistakenly' published the initial offering price of the five compet- itors who showed interest until then. This allowed the bidders to ad- just their final offer a month lat- er. Two of the lowest priced bids dropped out of the running and the Paprec-BBL consortium re- duced its initial price by around €17 million to put in a final offer for €599.7 million. The other two consortia – FCC Medioambiente Internacional and Hitachi Zosen Inova-Terna – submitted final bid prices of €616 million and €781.5 million respec- tively. Former MP Jason Azzopardi, claimed at the time, the June blun- der was a "planned mistake aimed to give an advantage to a particu- lar company close to the Prime Minister". The reference was to Bonnici Brothers given that back in 2016 Robert Abela had been in a joint business venture with Gil- bert Bonnici in a project to demol- ish a terraced house in Iklin and build an apartment block instead. The Maghtab incinerator The Magħtab incinerator is ex- pected to process 192,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste annual- ly and is a crucial cog in Malta's waste management plan. The incineration of waste will help reduce the dependence on landfills to dispose of non-recycla- ble waste. The tender issued by Wasteserv, the government waste manage- ment agency, is for the construc- tion and operation of a plant that is also expected to generate 5% of the country's energy needs. The selected company will be granted a 20-year concession to run the facility. Wasteserv had previously set a target investment of just over €400 million for the construction and operation of the facility, which will form part of its Eco-hive complex at Magħtab. The price tag has now risen by a further €200 million. Plans for an incinerator at Magħtab were first announced by the government in 2018 for a plant that would handle less waste and projected to cost around €150 million. It was said at the time the facility would be completed by 2023. However, the process hit sever- al snags and the incinerator plans were finally given the Planning Authority's green light in January 2022. involvement in incinerator project Bonnici Brothers insists George Farrugia played no role in the incinerator tender process and will play no future role in the project