Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/731331
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2016 9 News ployed and growing, coupled with its past projects and order book for 2016 and 2017 clearly demon- strates its ongoing success." Yet, Balzan did not con- firm whether the company has achieved its turnover targets, in- vested €4 million in infrastructure and employed 10 new people, in- stead saying "for commercial rea- sons, some of the questions asked are considered to be commercially sensitive." On its part, TM told MaltaTo- day that the last routine check to verify that Melita Marine are fulfilling their contractual obliga- tions was carried out in April. "The authority found no valid reason to stop the company from continuing its investment to the detriment of the industry and its workers." Pre-empting the company's re- sponse, TM added "kindly refer commercially sensitive questions to Melita shipyards themselves." TM also failed to clarify when and for how long the concession was renewed. The controversial decision to award the concession to Melita Marine irked a number of compa- nies which would have submitted a bid had the authority issued a public call and is the subject of a judicial protest filed by a private company against Piscopo. Soon after Melita Marine was awarded the direct order, Woman In Management Ltd filed a judicial protest demanding that the con- cession be repealed since it was in breach of competition laws as de- termined by the European Court of Justice. Woman In Management Ltd, directed by Alexia King and Tracy Vella, was interested in teaming up with a foreign company had Transport Malta issued a call for tenders. In its judicial protest, the com- pany explained that it only got to know about the concession after MaltaToday revealed details of the direct order on 13 April, 2014. The company's lawyers said that the company could have possibly shown interest in the regulator's contract, but that this was not published and therefore prevent- ed them from competing for it. In 2011, Transport Malta had issued a tender for a concession agreement for a floating dock at the Outer Coal Wharf in Kordin, where Balzan's Melita Shipyard Ltd now operates. The contract was awarded to Palm Shipping, however the float- ing dock was later operated by Cassar Ship Repairs after the ven- ture was not successful. This is not the first direct order for the concession of quays in the Grand Harbour issued by the au- thority. In May 2014, TM had awarded a direct order to Ablecare Oilfield Services Holdings for the use of the former shipbuilding site in Marsa before the company was named as the preferred bidder for the development of a maritime hub in January 2015. Earlier this month, MaltaToday reported that Boiler Wharf in Senglea was also awarded by di- rect order to a private company. Denying that the concession was given by direct order, Piscopo claimed that the authority "acted responsibly in allocating an exist- ing operator, with ongoing opera- tions, with temporary six month berthing agreement after the same operator had to be moved from its place of operations due to the pri- vatisation of the Maritime Hub." Echoing Piscopo's statement, the company, Polaris Marine Lim- ited, said that the concession was not given by direct order but by "a short-term agreement entered into between Transport Malta and Polaris Marine Services Co. Limited." everyday. Between the year 2000 and 2010, the number of vehicles crossing increased by 4.1% each year. In 2010 an average of 1,500 ve - hicles crossed each day in each direction. Last year, figures released by the National Statistics Office showed that a total of 1,348,502 vehicles made the crossing. This reflected an increase of 23% over the 2010 traffic. "The study is a major milestone in the process to eventually es- tablish a fixed link between Malta and Gozo," Transport Malta said. Whilst addressing the national youth parliament, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil proposed the development of a train con- necting the two islands. tunnel for geological data MATTHEW VELLA A Qatari royal family member and his wife have set up a Maltese company that will specialise in aviation, MaltaToday can confirm. Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani serves as the minister of economy and trade in the Qatari government, while also being a businessman and a part of the large Al Thani royal family. His company, Monifa Wings Company Limited, is an aircraft broker that will provide air trans- port services, lease aircraft and op- erator charter flights. Al Thani is perhaps better known as the former director-general of Al Jazeera, which he took over in September 2011. He left in 2013 upon becoming minister of the economy. He is a graduate of Imperial College and the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business, and has worked in different petroleum engineering projects in Qatar and abroad. He was a board member at Qa- targas. On 3 July, he was made member to the administrative council of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Arabian Business named Al Thani as the most powerful Qa- tari businessman in 2012. He was chosen as the 38th most powerful Arab by Gulf Business in 2013. His wife Hanadi bint Nasser Al Thani, in her own right a powerful businesswoman, is the CEO and founder of Al Waab City Real Es- tate, vice chairman of Nasser Bin Khaled Al-Thani & Sons Group, and founding chairperson of Q- Auto. She started her career as an as- sistant lecturer in economics at Qatar University. In 1998 she founded the Qatar Ladies Invest- ment Company (known as Amw- al), the first investment company to receive a licence from Qatar Central Bank to conduct invest- ment banking, asset and wealth management in Qatar. In 2005 she founded Al Waab City, an urban community devel- opment of over 1.2 million square metres of mixed use areas. Sheikha Hanadi has been on the Arabian Business list of most influential Arabs for several con- secutive years. Qatari royal sets up Malta aviation broker Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani Transport Malta 'found no valid reason to stop company from continuing its investment