PN Whip questions media leak of new Parliament pictures

Nationalist MP and Whip David Agius questioned how pictures of the Chamber of the House of Representatives in the new Parliament building got leaked to TVM.

“It’s unacceptable and disrespectful to this committee for those pictures to have been released to the media before they were shown to us today,” Agius said in a parliamentary House Business Committee meeting to discuss updates on the new Parliament.

From his part, Grand Harbour Regeneration Committee chairman Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi could not provide an explanation for the leak. 

Zrinzo Azzopardi said that works on the Parliament building are at an advanced stage and that only a few minor works remain incomplete. Such works include those on the lift lobby on the strangers’ gallery floor and on the fire escape exit on the ground floor. The building still needs to be cleaned up, and cameras still need to be transferred from the current Parliament to the third floor of the new one.    

Zrinzo Azzopardi predicted that the majority of floors will be fully transferred to the GHRC by the end of the week and that the majority of contractors would have left the building by 23 March.  The architects are expected to issue a final building certification by the end of March and staff will start migrating to the new Parliament by 27 March.

Works on a library haven’t yet started, and a cafeteria area hasn’t yet been identified. A parking solution for MPs has not yet been found either but Speaker Anglu Farrrugia said that he has received requests for reserved parking to be made available outside the building and next to the Central Bank.

MPs will each be given an electronic card that they will need to swipe to indicate their presence in the chamber and to speak on their microphones.  Zrinzo Azzopardi suggested that the House Business Committee discuss the possibility of MPs having to use their cards to vote in the House.

Desks in the Chamber will flip open when the MPs rise to speak and chairs will be removable, in the eventuality that a wheelchair-bound politician gets elected to Parliament.

No clear date has been decided on when Parliament can start convening in the new building.