|
Karl Schembri
Plans to exhibit old Malta buses in a transport museum and to use some of them on tourist routes have been effectively abandoned as the Transport Authority has scrapped most of the old fleet and sold others to private garages that are now trading them abroad with vintage cars.
The authority had a total of 147 old buses in hand following the bus replacement scheme subsidised by the government between 1995 and 2003, but almost all of them were sold to a scrapyard for Lm100 each following a call for tenders, while Paramount Garage was sold directly three of the old buses at Lm750. Paramount is now advertising its buses on foreign magazines to trade them in exchange of classic automobiles.
The scrapped plans have been the subject of protests from the Public Transport Association with the authority, which is citing an agreement reached in 1995 according to which 22 vintage buses would be kept, 10 of which would be passed on to the association for modification so they could be used on tourist routes.
Also, the association has written to the authority complaining that the buses sold to Paramount were not subjected to public tender procedures.
“The authority has breached our agreement and instead of conserving the buses that we had already chosen for the new tourist routes and others for the museum, it sold some of them directly to a private operator without issuing a call for tenders,” said association president Victor Spiteri.
According to the authority’s chief executive, Gianfranco Selvaggi, the authority was “faced with several issues”, particularly that of garage space to park the buses, forcing it to issue a tender for scrapping them.
About Paramount, Selvaggi said: “A formal request from Paramount Garages to acquire three buses to refurbish and send abroad was received. This was at first refused as the price offered was low. The ADT board then decided that as long as Paramount was ready to offer a better price and that the vehicles would be sent abroad and refurbished first at the expense of the Paramount Garages company itself, it would reconsider the request. This it did and Paramount Garages were sold three buses at Lm750 each. Incidentally the Classical Cars Association has asked the authority if it would consider donating one of these buses for their museum, the authority is considering this and should conclude with this association shortly.”
Selvaggi said the association’s complaints were groundless as there was never any final agreement on the old buses. “The Authority had discussed the idea of perhaps holding on to a number of buses to use for a future Transport Museum,” Selvaggi said. “In fact the authority together with the association had pointed out some buses for this purpose. The authority had also thought that in future it could consider using some of these buses for tourism on certain pre-defined routes, after refurbishment and VRT Safety Certification, but all this was at a discussion stage and nothing was confirmed or declined.
“This process would have however had to be done through a very detailed business plan and offered through a tender process and not necessarily to the association. But as I said there was nothing concrete about anything on these points. Lately following their complaint we have offered them to come forth with a formal proposal for a proper discussion. We still have some eight buses in hand and are keeping these for this reason.”
The association’s president however hit back at the chief executive, insisting that the agreement had been in place since 1995 and that the buses were already chosen and garaged for conservation and modification.
Selvaggi said that other old buses may end up out of the road and could eventually be considered for a museum and tourist services if they are replaced by new ones.
“Inevitably due to the ongoing reform discussions, some plan on another bus replacement scheme will have to be introduced,” Selvaggi said. “This will possibly free another 377 old buses from the roads and hence enough to choose for both a museum and any other feasible tourism activity suggested.”
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
|
