Gozo Ministry supplied workers for restaurant’s platform

The Gozo Ministry last year supplied workers from the civil service to build a platform outside a restaurant whose owner paid for the construction material for the platform, which gave him additional seating.

Il Gambero Ristorante owner Joseph Cassar told MaltaToday that the works were carried out at the same time that the Gozo Ministry was carrying out embellishment works at the Marsalforn promenade.

No solid explanation was forthcoming as to why Cassar paid for the construction material, limiting himself to a simple because he “wanted to”. 

“You know how it is… things sometimes move slowly when dealing with the government,” he said, adding that the area was now “more accessible to persons with disability”.

One of Il Gambero’s waiters and part-time manager is Keith Vella Muskat, a customer care official in the Construction and Maintenance Unit at the Gozo Ministry’s Department for Projects and Development.

Denying that he was in any way involved in the works carried out, Vella Muskat said he was just another part-time worker at the restaurant.

He said that the works “to level the ground” were carried out on land owned by the Lands Department.

Thanks to the new platform and embellishment works, Il Gambero now enjoys a bigger area where to place tables and chairs. In fact, in February 2014, the restaurant had filed an application with the Marsalforn administrative committee, requesting encroachment of public land in Triq il-Port for the placing of tables and chairs.

The committee’s original decision was to turn down the request, saying it was against the placing of tables in public passages. The decision was however overturned the following month – in April 2014 – when the committee revised its decision and issued a “no objection” to the placing of tables in the public passageway.

Stopping short of mentioning any names but referring to “a restaurant”, PN secretary general and Gozitan MP Chris Said on Saturday alleged that public resources were being used for private works. Pressed by MaltaToday, Said would not name the restaurant.

It however transpires that Il Gambero Ristorante’s name was being bandied out about in Gozo.