Incinerator tender can go ahead after losing bidder’s appeal is thrown out

A review board has turned down the appeal filed by Hitachi-Zosen Inova AG - Terna S.A. against Wasteserv’s decision to award the incinerator tender to a French-Maltese consortium.

The Public Contracts Review Board on Friday ruled against the appellant’s objections and upheld Wasteserv’s recommendation to award the incinerator tender to Paprec-BBL.

The review board was chaired by Kenneth Swain and included as members, Charles Cassar and Vincent Micallef.

Hitachi-Zosen Inova AG-Terna S.A. had submitted a compliant bid at a price tag of €781.5 million. Paprec-BBL submitted a bid just shy of €600 million.

Bonnici Brothers and the French recycling firm Paprec were selected as the preferred bidder on 13 October 2023 after submitting the lowest bid. The incinerator project in Magħtab is one of the largest ever public infrastructure contracts to be awarded.

The incinerator is crucial for Malta’s waste management plans since it will help to substantially reduce the dependence on landfilling for non-recyclable waste.

The project has experienced delays leading Wasteserv to request planning permission to increase the capacity of the Għallis landfill pending the completion of the project.

Ties with oil scandal kingpin

MaltaToday had revealed last year that the Maltese partner in the winning consortium has ties with 2013 oil scandal kingpin George Farrugia.

Bonnici Brothers Ltd, a Maltese construction firm, is the sole shareholder in the energy company ENV Energy Solutions, which is run by Farrugia.

It is unclear what role Farrugia may have played in the winning consortium’s bid for the Magħtab incinerator tender however, in comments to MaltaToday, Bonnici Brothers CEO Gilbert Bonnici had denied Farrugia was involved in any way in the project.

Bonnici had also said Farrugia will have no future role to play in the incinerator project if the tender award is confirmed.