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Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has at least one good reason to see the Mater Dei hospital delivered on time by 1 July 2007: the day coincides with his fifty fourth birthday.
If everything goes according to plan and Swedish consortium Skanska lives up to its re-negotiated commitment, Gonzi may very well be celebrating his birthday by cutting the inauguration ribbon at Tal-Qroqq.
What has been described by Nationalist governments as a gift to the people turns out to be a gift for Gonzi’s birthday, a practise reminiscent of some self aggrandised leadership. July 2007 also happens to be one year before the next general election is due.
The completion deadline agreed with Skanska last week is an extension by two years of the deadline stipulated in the contract signed in 2000. According to that contract the last sections of the hospital had to be delivered by Skanska by June 2005.
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