Comino deckchairs: minister issues third extension without tender

Aqra bil-Malti

Despite promising to take action, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has issued a third consecutive direct order without tender to the same three businesses, allowing them to continue operating irregularly on Comino’s Blue Lagoon and Santa Marija.

After months of refusing to divulge the reasons behind his inaction, Bartolo finally admitted in parliament that this year’s situation will remain the same.

When Gozitan MP Chris Said pressed Bartolo to explain why, despite his 2022 promise, no tender had been issued for public land concession at the popular island, Bartolo announced that he had again extended the expired concession without a tender.

This means that the three will continue to occupy public land irregularly to rent out deckchairs and umbrellas, among their other services. 

The operators are Daniel Refalo, who also doubles as a property developer together with Gozitan construction magnate Joseph Portelli, Mark Cutajar, brother of Labour MEP Josianne Cutajar and a canvasser of Planning Minister Clint Camilleri, and Sandro Ciliberi, who operates at the quieter Santa Marija Bay.

The Tourism Minister also has a direct personal interest in Comino. His father is the co-owner of Mellieha’s Pleasure and Leisure Ltd, which ferries tourists to the Blue Lagoon daily in boats operating under the name ‘Oh Yeah Malta’.

NGOs have long proposed limiting the number of day visitors on the island. However, the minister never commented on this proposal and only said that he was conducting a study on the situation, which has been ongoing since 2022.

Protests led to nothing

Following protests by several NGOs, including Moviment Graffiti, on the worsening situation in Comino, Bartolo and the Prime Minister had stated that a tender would be issued for the summer of 2022.

However, nothing has happened since then.

First, Bartolo said it was too late for the tender to be issued in time for the summer of 2022.  In 2023, he said the study he commissioned was still ongoing. As the 2024 summer season approached, Minister Bartolo announced the third extension, saying it was approved following a ‘reorganisation’ of the bay last year.

Despite Bartolo’s justifications for the concessions, the encroachment is still “irregular” according to law. Nevertheless, Bartolo has yet to disclose a timeline for implementing his 2022 promise to issue a tender.