Minister expects major changes in fixed line telephony from next year

A Voice over IP system, through which people could use personal computers to talk and listen to one another, was expected to be introduced next month as part of the liberalisation of communications, Transport and Communications Minister Censu Galea told parliament yesterday.

He said that the opposition used to scare the people about liberalisation of telecommunications, yet there was no doubt that the process was a success and the people were benefiting.

For example, the number of mobile phones had increased from 20,000 two years ago to 250,000 now, and costs were falling.

Now it was the sector of fixed line telephony which was about to undergo major change, and from January 1 similar services would also be offered through a Voice over IP system. He was sure that as this sector developed, consumers would also benefit from reduced costs.

The minister was speaking at the end of the budget debate on the votes of expenditure for the Ministry of Transport.

Reacting to remarks by Labour MP Charles Buhagiar (reported elsewhere), Mr Galea said the German road experts arrived in Malta in March/April 1998 and nobody could therefore claim that the road works programme was planned by September 1998, when the election was held. Indeed, the first report was completed in May 1999.

Mr Galea said the government's emphasis in road building was quality, to the extent that, for the first time, contractors were being made to redo work that did not meet the required high standards.

Malta would not have a repetition of what happened under Labour, when roads were surfaced in a hurry for vote catching purposes.

It was not true that the roads which were rebuilt by the government over the past four years had not been identified, Mr Galea said. Indeed, the roads were listed in reply to parliamentary questions opposition MPs had asked.

There was no doubt, however, that much more remained to be done to improve the roads. The Roads Department had a programme of works on 300 other roads. But it would be a waste of the people's money if this work was carried out hurriedly and in a shoddy manner, and the government was not prepared to do this.

Mr Buhagiar could easily see where the Lm30 million spent on the roads had gone. Those works included new roads in industrial zones and estates, and Lm8 million on road works were also spent by local councils.

Mr Galea said he never excused the contractor over the delays experienced in the Salina and Burmarrad road works. But Mr Buhagiar could surely not say that this contractor was one of the "friends of friends". One of the partners was a Labour councillor and everyone knew who the other sided with. Nonetheless this contractor had a right to work and he had been the only one who did not withdraw his tender for this project.

Indeed, this contractor had submitted tenders for other road works but the contracts were not awarded to him, a decision which had proved correct because of the pressure of work he had.

Turning to the comments made on the valuation of land taken over for road building, Mr Galea said that gone was the time when land owners were never paid for the land taken from them. When land valuations were not made by the Lands Department, they were handled by experienced, independent architects.

As for the Mtarfa road, what was shameful was how this road was built in the first place by the Labour government, and the present members of the opposition had even defended their practices at the time!

Mr Galea said the one-way system at Borg Olivier Street, Rabat, was introduced after a decision by Rabat council. Now that the council had changed its views, he hoped that the transport authority would also change its position. But he was certain that within a few weeks after that happened, the opposition would again start complaining of traffic congestion.

Mr Galea denied that the harbour works at Cirkewwa and Mgarr had been delayed. No plans had ever existed for a Gozo ring road which Labour MP Anton Refalo had spoken about. Gozo Channel did not fall within the responsibilities of the Transport Ministry, but the harbour works at Cirkewwa were aimed precisely at ensuring that passengers were given a better service.

Mr Galea said Mr Debono Grech knew well enough that the government in the EU accession talks had ensured that the port workers would not lose any of their rights. Talks would continue with the trade unions on the reform that was needed in the way the harbour operated, in the interest of the country and the workers themselves.

Near the end of his speech, Mr Galea observed that the opposition MPs had not said anything about how the government had reduced the registration and licence fees for vintage and other types of vehicles. Indeed, it had been a Labour government which had raised all vehicle registration fees.

The opposition MPs had criticised delays in road works, but they had not said how the people were benefiting from the works that had been completed, such as in the case of the Hal Far Road, Hompesch Road, Mdina Road, Qormi, Psaila Street, the area near Cirkewwa, part of the coastroad, the Attard junction near the Corinthia Hotel, the Fgura/Marsascala junction, the tal-Balal junction in San Gwann, the works at Swieqi and many other localities including Bahrija, where the government had spent Lm250,000.

Nationalist MP Michael Bonnici, who spoke earlier, said that although there had been an improvement in signage, there was clearly a need for more traffic signs, and signage painted on the roads needed to be more durable.

He also called for the installation of traffic lights to benefit pedestrians who wished to cross the roads and drivers who sometimes found it difficult to drive on to arterial roads from side roads.

Mr Bonnici said much criticism had been made when traffic islands were built on the Rabat road near Mt Carmel Hospital, yet they had stopped the long string of serious traffic accidents in that stretch.

The Nationalist MP also called for speed limits to be enforced.

He said that if the VRT was to be any real benefit, it should be meaningful and seriously carried out.

Although the road building programme was proceeding slowly, it was good that quality was being preferred over quantity.

Mr Bonnici said he, however, wanted to criticise the way how tarmac was laid in the rain on Wednesday at Mdina Road. This was a lack of professionalism and a waste of money.

The estimates of the Ministry of Transport were approved after a division, with 27 in favour and 20 against.