Falzon’s Waste Oils chosen as preferred bidder for Ricasoli Tank

Waste Oils Limited, a company owned by Falzon Group, has been chosen as the preferred bidder in the tendering process for the operation of a port reception facility for ship-generated waste oils at the Ricasoli Tank Cleaning Facility for the next 30 years.

A MaltaToday probe in May revealed that the call for tenders was issued on 4 May only a day after the Malta Environment and Planning Authority board issued an Integrated Pollution Prevention Control (IPPC) permit for Falzon Waste Oils.

The tender conditions specified that only companies already in possession of an IPPC permit to operate a similar installation could apply.

A spokesperson for the Finance Ministry confirmed that six entities collected the relative Call for Tenders document on payment of the prescribed tender collection fee of €5,000 and the signing of a confidentiality agreement. Site inspections were made by three of these potential bidders.
But by the tender submission deadline of 20 July 2012, only one tender was submitted by Waste Oils Company Limited.  

The bid was evaluated to establish if it meets the technical and other requirements laid down in the Call for Tenders and once this was confirmed, the financial offer submitted by this bidder was opened on 10 September 2012 in the presence of a Notary Public and representatives of the bidder.
Although Waste Oils Limited offer exceeded the minimum stipulated in the Call for Tenders, the company was declared as the Preferred Bidder in terms of the procedure set out in the Call for Tenders.
Discussion between the Preferred Bidder and the Privatisation Unit started on the 13 September 2012, and are still ongoing.

National interest invoked to justify tender conditions

The tender conditions specify that the bidder must have managed a hazardous management installation or a port reception facility for ship-generated waste for a period of at least 10 years. It also states that the company must already be in possession of an environmental permit to operate such an installation.

A government spokesperson cited the "national interest" and the need to safeguard environmental standards to justify these conditions, but prospective bidders complained that these conditions have practically excluded most operators from the bidding process.

The Finance Ministry spokesperson justified this condition citing "the national interest" and to ensure maximum environmental safeguards.

"Given Malta's obligation at international law to provide the facility coupled with the sensitivity of the area and the importance and technical nature of the operation, government cannot afford to risk entrusting such an important and sensitive operation to amateurs and therefore opted for practices enshrined in European directives," a finance ministry spokesperson told MaltaToday in May.

According to government, the 10 years experience in running a similar plant was crucial to ensure that the new operator would have already had the experience of executing similar maintenance programmes in the facility.

The government also changed its policy to relocate the Ricasoli tank-cleaning facility to a more environmentally suitable location, and has issued a call for tenders to lease the site for 30 years as a port reception facility for ship-generated waste oil and cargo residues.

But a spokesperson for the Ministry for Finance insists that the decision to issue the tender to retain the site for tank-cleaning activities was taken after all attempts to relocate this activity failed after MEPA failed to issue a permit for an alternative site.

In July 2011, Waste Oils Limited were cleared of dumping oils in the drainage system earlier in the month because the investigation had failed to satisfy criminal proceedings which could lead to conviction.

The manholes at Spencer Hill and Timber Wharf in Marsa were inspected in March 2009 after residents complained of bad odours. Two manholes were found to have a considerable quantity of oil which should never have been dumped into the drainage system.

Waste Oils was suspected to be the culprit after an investigation that involved the Water Services Corporation, the planning authority and Transport Malta.

The company's property was inspected in April 2009 and a flexible pipe, the ends of which were covered in oil similar to that found in the drainage system, was found connected to the company's plant on one side and to an unused bathroom drain on the other.