Government to hold broad consultation on City Gate project

The Cabinet will discuss the City Gate project tomorrow and then launch a broad consultation on how it should develop, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in Parliament this evening. He also said when asked whether or not Parliament would be transferred to the projected new Parliament House that while the building block earmarked for the parliamentary chamber could not, 'by any stretch of the imagination' be used for any other purpose, the other block, housing offices, was too small. The issue was raised in a series of questions by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi to Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi. He asked when the project would be completed, its cost and whether Parliament would be moved to the new building on the former Freedom Square. Mr Mizzi said he was not in a position to say when the project would be completed because of problems. He was still waiting official information on the extent of those problems and therefore he could not say when the project would be completed. The government would consult widely on how the project would develop. Mr Mizzi said it was clear that there were serious shortcomings that, at present, made it impossible for the structure to function as a...