Implementation of constructive decisions

At the risk of being repetitive, I feel very strongly that the average Maltese citizen living in this country has not yet realised just how very important it is for this country of ours to earn a living from service, the environment and hospitality. A living that now, and even more so in the future, will mainly depend on people coming to stay in our islands for one reason or another and liking it enough to recommend it to their friends and colleagues. I will repeat this point ad nauseam, until we all realise this very important fact.

I only have to look around me to realise that, unfortunately, I am correct.

Because we do not acknowledge this very important situation, good ideas that are for the immediate and long-term benefit of our country normally take years to be implemented. This blight in our system of deciding and implementing has to be remedied immediately.

I have every sympathy for each and every opinion that each and every person in this country has about each and every decision, big or small, that needs to be made.

However, if the decision is good and important it must be decided on in as short a time as possible and someone has to have the courage and authority to make that decision and implement it.

An enterprising Maltese colleague of mine is building a commercial property in a beautiful part of France near the lakes. His architect said they needed a bridge to go over the coast road, connecting the project to the lakefront. They applied to the local council and the locality's mayor asked for a sketch and the reasons why such commercial premises needed a bridge. Within a week the permission was given.

Can you imagine what would happen if that request were made in Malta? There would be letters in the press, discussions at Mepa, discussions at the Cabinet etc., etc. and, maybe, eventually, after a few years, the permission will be issued, by which time the developer would have given up. We have ample examples of this situation. The crafts village (nine years), the Barrakka lift (nine years), the garden outside Spinola Palace (three years), St George's Bay (eight years)... I could go on and on.

Our competitors are moving fast and we cannot be left behind.

I want to make something very clear. I do not agree that permission should be given for everything that is applied for. Any permit issued must be for the good of the country and must be aesthetically acceptable, but if it fulfils these criteria then we must act quickly and decisively.

Nothing else must be built or developed in Malta and Gozo that will detract from our islands' attractiveness. But we can still save the day, by developing or arranging what is left of our country in the best way possible and in the best way that will benefit the finances of the country. But when a decision needs to be made, it must be made within a sensible and definite time frame.

Take our heritage, for example. Everyone acknowledges that we have some of the finest heritage sites and buildings in the world. Do we treat them with priority? Of course not. Do our competitors treat their heritage buildings with priority? Of course they do. Heritage Malta has been set up to look after our heritage. Surely, therefore, we are looking after our heritage.

Heritage Malta has been given a budget of about Lm1,300,000 per annum. This sum hardly pays the wages of the staff employed. There is practically nothing left to renovate or maintain anything.

We should be saying that we need much more money to maintain our heritage. Where are we going to get it from? We should not only make a decision to maintain these irreplaceable sites and buildings but also make a decision on how to get the money with which to do it.

One way of obtaining such money would be by imposing a levy on every building permit issued for each new property, which money would go to Heritage Malta. This could be called "Build the new to help pay for the old".

Hard decisions must be made in order to get things done. We must be prepared to have the courage to make such decisions. Nobody is given a free ride in this difficult world of ours. We all have to accept this fact. If we want to attract visitors who will enjoy the island, spend their money here and then recommend it, then we must all pay for the privilege.