34 public car parks offered for private operation

The transport authority has published concession tenders for the operation of 34 public car park sites that are currently administered by licensed car park attendants.

Car Park attendants are currently registered and licensed with Transport Malta in accordance with the Motor Vehicle Regulations. They do not enjoy a title over the car park and are only legally allowed to receive gratuities rather than actually being paid for doing a service. They also do not pay any rent to government.

Transport Malta will licence the 34 public car parks to 24-7 operators who must provide security and CCTV camera surveillance, and obtain insurance against third-party damages.

Parking fees are to be determined by the operator, who will receive a ten-year contract.

The reform includes the upgrading of the sites to include road markings where necessary, and artificial lighting which will both be done by Transport Malta.

The charging times in specific sites including those in Rabat, Mosta and Floriana, have been restricted to between 8am-6pm as habitually these sites are used by residents for overnight parking.

Current licence holders are being granted the right to match the best offer in terms of the proposed concession fee, received by Transport Malta with respect to the operation of the car park currently assigned to them.

"The invitation to tender takes into consideration the fact that the vast majority of the existing licensed car park attendants currently carry out this operation as their source of livelihood," TM said.

"If any of the car park attendants are not capable of, or interested in matching the offer, the successful tenderer will be bound to offer them a job at a wage which is not lower than salary scale 20 as published by the government for the public sector."