NEWS | Sunday, 15 July 2007

OPM did not issue instructions to move oilrig - spokesperson

By Gerald Fenech
The Prime Minister’s office has said that the massive oilrig hosted right in the middle of St. Paul’s Bay was not moved from its original location in Bighi due to a reception held there, Malta Today can confirm.
This statement was revealed by sister-paper Business Today last Wednesday, when it published comments from the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association which claimed that the rig ended up in St Paul’s Bay because ‘the government wanted to hold a reception for local people at Bighi’.
Contacted yesterday, a spokesperson for the OPM flatly denied such an allegation and said he had never heard of such a move and the Prime Minister’s office had nothing to do with the rig’s movements.
“I can confirm that the OPM absolutely did not issue any instructions for the oilrig to be moved from its location in Bighi due to the Prime Minister’s reception” the spokesperson said.
In the meantime, MHRA President Josef Formosa Gauci said he was sceptical of the possibility that the rig would be moved immediately, as absolutely nothing has been done following the association’s statement.
“Unfortunately, we don’t think we have got anywhere although we continue to maintain our position – the oilrig has to be moved from the area as soon as possible to prevent any further damage being done to the tourist industry in the peak summer months”.
Confidential sources have told Malta Today that the government was taken aback by the harsh nature of the MHRA’s statement, which described the Interministerial group on tourism as having ‘failed miserably’ in its task.
In the meantime, this newspaper continued to receive calls from irate and angry residents who complained that the huge eyesore was detrimental to their quality of life, expressing exasperation at the attitude of the Local Council who declared that it was in the dark about the case.
“We enjoy coming here in the summer for the atmosphere and location but with such a monstrous contraption bang in the middle of the bay this has become a nightmare. Residents all over the area are flabbergasted at this new development what with all the construction going on. What is also unacceptable is the local council’s attitude who profess to know nothing on the case” one irate foreign resident told Malta Today.
Efforts to contact St Paul’s Bay mayor Paul Bugeja have so far proven unsuccessful.