Work on the Villa Lauri project in Birkirkara, is “planned to be completed by the year 2023,” Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri has said.

The Minister was replying to a Parliamentary Question by Opposition MP Chris Said, who asked the Gozo Minister for information on the project which, he said, “was supposed to be inaugurated during early 2020 to provide temporary accommodation for Gozitan University students and for relatives of Gozitan patients hospitalised in Malta.”

The agreement on the project between the Ministry for Gozo and the Franciscan religious community was first announced in January 2019, with work due to start in April of that same year, ready to open its doors “to welcome the first residents at the beginning of 2020.”

However, the Planning Authority didn’t issue the permits for work on the project until August of 2019. This was to be followed by the tendering process to enable work to start, the Ministry said.

The Gozo Ministry had said that works on the villa include the demolition and replacement of dangerous structures, alterations to improve the amenity of building, and completion of facade restoration, with at the time, “an estimated cost of €1 million for the refurbishment and construction.”

MP Chris Said, in his Parliamentary Question asked Minister Camilleri, when is it planned to have all the works completed on this building and to start using it.

He also asked what funds were allocated for this project in the Budget for each year of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, how much was spent and how many funds are allocated for the year 2023.

The Opposition MP went on to ask the Gozo Minister what the estimated overall cost will be on this building before it is able too start being used by the students and relatives of Gozitan patients.

In his reply Camilleri said that the structural work on Villa Lauri has been completed and M & Es and finishes work is currently underway, this is apart from the start of work on the installation of the Lifts.

The Minister also said that an offer for the purchase of furniture has also been given and this will be installed when the M & Es and finishes works are completed.

“The work could not be completed on time because on the call for tenders issued for structural work no tenderer was eligible and therefore a new call had to be issued,” Minister Camilleri said.

He added that “when the call for tenders for M & Es and finishes work were also issued there were no eligible bidders and therefore the process for a call for tenders had to start again.”

Permalink: Villa Lauri project planned for completion by 2023 – Gozo Minister