The beautification of Maltese roads

There has been much talk of the need for greenery on this island. I intend to avoid any talk of golf courses and urban sprawl. However it would be safe to say that nobody objects to healthy plants growing in centre strips and roundabouts, as well as public gardens.

Although the name Environment Landscapes Consortium Ltd (ELC) remains little known, the results are discussed and appreciated by all.

Until late 2002 the Urban and Rural Section of the Department of Agriculture, employing over 300 people, was responsible for the embellishment and maintenance of public gardens and arterial roads in Malta. Clearly more was expected of the department, especially in the area of personnel management. And the taxpayer had to foot the wages bill.

When the ELC was set up, "it was the first public-private partnership that involved the Government of Malta," ELC chairman Peter Calamatta told The Sunday Times in an interview late last month.

Managers from various companies in the construction and horticulture industry got together, combined their expertise and created the ELC.

The Garden Shop Nursery, Dr Adrian's Garden Centre and Green Supplies, while working in similar fields, have each specialised in their own areas, covering the nurturing of all sorts of plants - from seasonals, to annuals and on to trees - as well as irrigation techniques. The Polidano Group was also brought in to form part of the consortium, as inevitably some of the work would include construction.

The ELC's duties are split mainly into hard- and soft-landscaping. The former refers to roadworks, pavements and all forms of construction; the latter to anything dealing with soil, trees, plants and maintenance.

Irrigation is one of the most fundamental aspects in landscaping, as good water management can breed healthier plants and reduce long-term costs through increased efficiency needing less continuous human input.

Some of the major projects carried out so far include the Mellieha intersection, Floriana Memorial Area and Qormi Roundabout, as well as Blata l-Bajda, St Venera Clover Leaf By-pass and Castille.

Most of the plants needed for these projects were grown locally. However some of the larger trees were imported from Spain, Italy and Egypt, such as the trees for the Kappara roundabout - another project carried out last year.

A range of plants were used for these projects, including seasonals, which can be planted in stages to offer flowers all year round. Other small plants and shrubs were planted to produce flowers at various points throughout the year. Some perennials were also planted. All these were grown at Wied Incita, Attard.

But this project was successful not only for the results visible to drivers on their way to work every morning. The success can also be judged by what was absent. Never before have 300 civil servants been so visibly productive without the unions rushing to the press in protest.

One of the reasons was that the human resources manager at ELC is Mario Cutajar, formerly employed by a local union, who must ensure that most problems are tackled before they developed.

The Consortium has a professional, modern management structure, with Dr Ronald Cuschieri, an international lawyer, as general manager, Peter Doublet Barry as financial section head and the rest of the management team hailing from Australia, Ireland, England and the United States, bringing an international dimension and expertise to the already high quality of the management team.

Mr Calamatta believes that the managerial and directorial teams should be distinct in such a company. In fact the board of directors also includes Charles Polidano from Polidano Group as the consortium's vice-chairman, Dr Adrian Zammit of Dr Adrian Zammit's Garden Centre, Carlos Calamatta of The Garden Shop Nursery and Wigi Micallef of Green Supplies as directors, as well as Boris Farrugia of Polidano Group as director and financial controller.

The ELC has a limited budget with which to maintain all public land and public gardens. In fact, the quality of their work and expertise means that almost half the local councils have subcontracted the ELC to carry out works on public land in their locality.

The ELC's first year of operations was successful, practically starting from scratch with the 320 employees from the former Rural and Urban Department, as well as 25 workers previously at Kalaxlokk, identifying individual skills and instilling a sense of pride in the workers through their uniforms, a fleet of 25 new vans as well as the purchase of heavy duty machinery, improved safety equipment and more modern and efficient machinery.

Performance bonuses were introduced, as well as redressing anomalies in promotions and designations. In-house training is carried out, as well as ETC training programmes, which are ongoing.

Human relations have also been improved, allowing access for any individual to air complaints or suggestions to superiors, right up to the HR manager.

The ELC contract has been extended to cover the next four years. Last year's projects were carried out with a higher budget than that allocated by the government this year. However, this will not reflect on the quality of the work, and the quality of finished projects will not be allowed to slip.

The ELC has created a four-level maintenance strategy, with level four representing the most basic work, such as the removal of litter (of all sizes) from existing sites, and level one representing the final maintenance (irrigation, pruning, etc.) of finished sites.

The ELC aims to bring up the level of maintenance by one point every year. I asked whether this meant that the bulk of the work would be over in four years' time, to which Mr Calamatta replied that the necessity for new projects will be inevitable, with some levels of maintenance needing a human element.

"Ultimately, this is business," Mr Calamatta said. The decision to involve these companies in a project of this sort seems to be a sensible one. "At least, now taxpayers can see where their money is going." Cleanliness of our roads could become a reality sooner than most would imagine.