Nationalist MP resigns from National Audit Committee

Nationalist MP Jesmond Mugliett has resigned his seat on the National Audit Committee, a parliamentary committee of MPs who debate audits of major government decisions and acquisition.

Mugliett, a former transport minister, said he had resigned his seat after being offered "too simplistic an answer" over the calculations presented for government's acquisition of some 100 car park places in the MCP car park in Floriana.

The government recently granted a 60-year lease to the MCP car park. Mugliett said the answers he sought during the committee meeting were not satisfactory and decided at that point to resign from the committee.

The MCP will be extended to eventually host a total 1,150 cars, 402 of which will be new car spaces.

A resolution has been presented in Parliament this morning to extend the lease of the car park by a further 65 years once the current one expires in 2041.

The operator of the car park is contractually obliged to invest €5 million in the new project, rent out 100 out of the 402 new spaces to government for public sector employees at a minimal annual fee, maintain the public garden planned to be built on top of the car park at street level at Environment Landscape Consortium (ELC) standards, but cannot offer retail outlet services except for a car valeting service or sports facility such as a gymnasium.

As things stand, the duration of the lease is 50 years (which kick-started back in 1991) and expires in 2041. The current annual ground lease of €23,000, revised every 25 years (twice in 50 years), will rise to €200,000 annually and will be revised every 10 years.

MCP car park operator Saviour Ellul, of Elbros, had said works on the project would be conducted during off-peak hours to reduce any inconvenience that would hinder the traffic flow in and out of Valletta.