Be the first to comment!Villa Lauri “expected” to open its doors in October – Minister
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Minister for Gozo and Planning Clint Camilleri, has told Parliament that, “it is expected that in October this year Villa Lauri in Birkirkara will open its doors to welcome the first students and relatives of Gozitan patients.”
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.”
In December 2022, the Minister, in response to a previous PQ had said that the project was “planned for completion in 2023.”
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.”
MP Chris Said, in his latest Parliamentary Question Villa Lauri project also asked Minister Camilleri, when is it planned to have all the works completed on this building and to start using it.
He asked what funds were allocated for this project in the Budget for each year of 2019, 2020, 2021 2022, 2023 how much was spent and how many funds are allocated for the year 2024.
The Opposition MP went on to ask the Minister what the estimated overall cost will be on this building before it is able too start being used and if the building is owned by the Government or rent, and what costs were involved on rent in last five years and to whom it was paid.
Minister Camilleri told Parliament that the structural work at Villa Lauri has been completed. A lift was installation at the beginning of January.
He went on to say that the The M&E work has reached the final phase and is expected to be finished by April this year. Furniture and appliances (kitchens and laundry) have begun to be installed. In the coming weeks a call will be issued again for the rest of the furniture.
Information about allocation and costs was provided by the Minister as follows:
