The considerable amount of land required by Lidl for its planned distribution centre in Malta is holding up the project, according to Economy Minister Chris Cardona.
The news is not bad for all stakeholders: in fact it will be welcomed by local importers, according to sources, who are now cautiously optimistic that the project will slowly die.
Although the project was touted as a regional distribution centre, local importers were concerned about how it would tie in to Lidl’s local stores. Many of them were deeply unhappy that the German retailer might end up paying less than commercial rates for a warehouse – which would then be used to supply their operators in Malta, giving Lidl a competitive advantage which would hurt their operations.
READ: Lidl to create a regional distribution centre in Malta – Economy Minister
When the minister had announced the project in March 2017 during one of a series of the government’s public outreach events, he had focused not on importers but on local producers.
Dr Cardona had projected that within three years, Lidl would increase the value of products it purchased from Maltese manufacturers from €3 million to €22 million, with most of these…
