Following a call issued for bidders, Infrastructure Malta has shortlisted one bidder out of the four that submitted their offers.

The shortlist is a consortium made out of five companies; UK’s Equitix, Japanese company Itochu, Turkish companies Yapi Merkezi and Makyol, and French company Egis.

This comes after Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg clarified last year that the government will not be funding the Gozo tunnel, but will be seeking a winning bidder.

The bidder will be responsible for all maintenance and construction costs of the project.

The Gozo tunnel project has already been met with a lot of resistance, from residents and environmental organisations.

The tunnel will see arable and natural land destroyed, and poses a question of how the construction waste of the project will be dealt with after. 

A recent survey done by Times of Malta shows that the population is split in half over the project, with 41.6 per cent of the population in favour and 38.8 per cent against it.

The current proposal for the project would lead to a 13-kilometre tunnel with one traffic lane heading in each direction.

Are you in favour of the Gozo tunnel?