Gozo Ministry ‘completes’ illegal works at Gozo pool project as costs soar by millions of euros

The Planning Authority (PA) is next week expected to approve major interventions made by the Gozo ministry without the necessary permits during the ongoing construction of a new pool and sports facility in Victoria.

At the same time, while the costs of this national project have already skyrocketed from the planned €9 million to at least €16 million, the new facility is still in shell form and a new tender for an additional cost of €700,000 has been issued to install the pool’s floor.

With a permit originally approved by the PA in 2017, the government issued a tender for the upgrading of the existing sports complex, with the aim of adding an Olympic-size pool to the facilities.

However, through the direct intervention of 33-year old Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, the project deviated sharply from approved plans, and the existing sports complex was dismantled and a new structure erected instead.

Now that the new building structure has been almost completed – though the finishing works are yet to start – the Gozo Ministry has asked the PA to sanction the new interventions – all built without a permit.

The PA has already signalled its disposition to do as the government requested and is recommending an immediate green light.

Among the works set to be approved are an increase of almost two metres in the height of the new complex and an internal set-up that’s completely different from that approved by the PA in 2017.

TVM reports pool is near completion, when the structure is just a shell

As part of the propaganda exercise unleashed by the Gozo Ministry, intended to give the impression that the pool is almost ready, the national broadcaster last week prominently reported the ‘news’.

While stating that the pool is “almost complete”, the reality is that the complex, which was scheduled to open its doors this year, is just a shell and is now not expected to be up and running before at least another 12 months.

While TVM failed to mention the changes to approved plans, it gave no date for when Gozitans will be able to use the new facilities. The Gozo ministry is still procuring new services, somehow left out of the original tender issued for the building of this new complex.

The latest ‘addition’ – some €700,000 in increased costs to be forked out by taxpayers – is the floor of the new pool. Although this was an ‘obvious’ part of the project, it was not included in the original €9 million tender.

Joseph Portelli and ic-Caqnu benefit

The main beneficiaries of the hefty additional spending on this long-awaited project – originally pledged in Labour’s 2013 electoral manifesto – will be Gozo construction magnate and political parties’ donors Joseph Portelli and Charles Polidano (known as ‘Ic-Caqnu’) whose joint company was given the tender to build the new complex.

While they won the original €9 million tender, the additional work has already seen their company rake in an additional €7 million.

The cost is expected to continue to surge – there still remains significant outstanding work to be done before the project is completed,  and the Gozo ministry continues to change its plans along the way.

Apart from the illegal internal alternations to the plan and the height changes that are set to be officially sanctioned by the PA next week, the Gozo ministry has also constructed a new wing to be used as a cafeteria inside the building. This, also, did not form part of the original plans.

Eventually, the Gozo ministry is expected to lease this new lucrative facility to a private operator. It is not yet known whether this lease will be granted through a competitive tender or another direct order.

The Shift has already reported that most of the concrete used to construct the massive building – hundreds of tons – have been transported directly from the illegal concrete batching plant mounted and operated illicitly by Joseph Portelli in a government-owned quarry in Kercem.

The illegal batching plant continues to operate daily, supplying among others, several ongoing public projects in Gozo. 

Following various media reports about the open illegality of the plant’s operations, the PA has issued an enforcement order intended to shut it down.

However, no police action has been taken to close it down and seal it off, and no criminal action has been taken against Joseph Portelli and his partners Mark Agius, known as ‘Ta’ Dirjanu’, and Daniel Refalo – a concessionaire of public land for the renting out off sunbeds in Comino.