It’s still a long way to the Gozo-Malta tunnel

Four preliminary bids for the Gozo-Malta tunnel received five months ago are still being analysed by an evaluation committee, Infrastructure Malta has said.

The roads agency could not give a timeline by when the evaluation was expected to close but the current stage does not involve technical details on the proposed projects.

Two companies and two consortiums had responded to an invitation by Infrastructure Malta for prospective bidders to provide information that demonstrates their experience in similar tunnel developments.

The four interested companies are an Italian firm; a Maltese company with its primary shareholders being the Chetcutis of the Hugo’s entertainment chain; a consortium made up of Chinese, Dutch and Turkish companies; and a consortium of French, Turkish, UK and Japanese companies.

Known as the pre-qualification questionnaire stage, bidders are currently being assessed on their technical capability and financial resources.

It is only after this evaluation is concluded that successful bidders will qualify to the second stage, where they will present detailed technical plans of the tunnel structure and how the project will be implemented, operated and maintained.

Infrastructure Malta said that in this phase of the process, each participant will be invited to dialogue meetings to explain their proposal to the evaluation team.

However, it could not give a timeline for the process. “This second stage will commence as soon as the ongoing evaluation of the pre-qualification questionnaire submissions is completed,” a spokesperson for the agency said.

Companies that pass the second phase will then be invited to provide a “best and final offer” for the project.

“This will include a detailed technical and financial offer based on the solution proposed in the previous stage. The selection team will then identify and recommend the best offer based on pre-established criteria,” the spokesperson said.

He added that in parallel with this selection process, a team of independent experts approved by the planning and environmental authorities are conducting an environmental impact assessment of the proposed project.

But the EIA can only be concluded after the proposed tunnel plans are confirmed following the procurement process.

It is only then that Infrastructure Malta will submit a development application to the Planning Authority, the spokesperson said.

The Gozo-Malta tunnel project includes the development of a 14-kilometre subsea road link between the two islands. According to Infrastructure Malta the road will accommodate two vehicle lanes, one in each direction and a wide central buffer with additional space for emergency vehicles.

The agency has so far conducted nine studies, including preliminary geophysical and geological investigations based on land and seabed core samples extracted along the proposed tunnel route.

The tunnel is a government electoral pledge but it remains unclear whether a formal planning application will be filed in time before the next general election. The project received bi-partisan backing in parliament last year.

It has been a long-held Gozitan dream for a permanent link with Malta with the first concrete studies in the 1970s dismissing the project as unfeasible.

Environmentalists have raised concerns about the impact the project could have on either side of the tunnel portals, apart from the pressure it will create in Gozo for more development.

Questions have also been raised on the amount of excavation waste that will be generated.

Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech on Sunday floated the idea of holding a referendum among Gozitans after all tunnel studies are concluded.

This proposal was shot down by the Gozo Business Chamber that has been clamouring for a permanent connection between the islands.