Five consortia submit proposal for Addolorata restoration and maintenance

Five consortia submitted the necessary proposals and documentation following a call for competitive dialogue for works on the Addolorata cemeterys Health minister Chris Fearne has said on Thurdsday.

He added that the government was now in a position to sign promise of sale for those on a waiting list for new grave.

The project will require between €17 and €18 million in investment and the best and final offer will be chosen, Fearne said.  

"Today we are in a position to start sending out letters to those on the register so that from next month we can start signing promise of sale agreements. There are 2,800 graves available and they will be offered to people according to the list.”

The minister said there were roughly 4,000 individuals waiting to be given a grave.

The public-private partnership the government will be entering into with the chosen consortium will involve a 26,000-square metre extension containing 2,880 four-tier graves as well as any maintenance required. The chosen consortium will be obliged to administer services at the cemetery for a period of 15 years and will be obliged to invest a minimum of €6 million on restoration works.

The minister stressed that employees at the cemetery will remain government employees and their work will still be carried out under the terms of the collective agreement in place with the government. The government will be refunded the cost of their wages by the consortium.

Moreover, Fearne said that following a change in the cemetery’s administration at the beginning of the year, the new management had been found not to be up to the task and had been replaced once again.

"A lot of work was done in the past two weeks and it seems that the situation is now back to normal,” he added.

Fearne pointed out that the first application for an extension of the cemetery was submitted in 2002, and this was followed by excavation works which were then stopped in 2010, with the permit expiring in 2011.

“Despite this, the previous administration had agreed a promise of sale for graves with a number of individuals,” he said, adding that the government had now regularised its position with these people.

The minister said that, if all goes to plan, work will be expected to start at the end of 2017, and the first graves will be given out early in 2018.