The quality of our infrastructural services is intimately linked to the natural resources of the country. The old colonial adage that Malta has no natural resources is untrue. Our dependence on groundwater, forms of electrical generation and local stone production remains crucial for the country's development as ever, as is the potential of an oil discovery.

Since independence, Malta did not create adequate institutions to replace colonial ones geared to the maintenance study, development and conservation of our resources. The Malta Resources Authority (MRA) set up a few years ago remains ineffective and has not chartered a path for the future of local resources. This authority, piloted by the former Air Malta chairman who had nearly crashed our national airline, has not taken off the ground.

The PN administration has failed to conserve our natural resources because mismanagement has allowed unsustainable practices to flourish at the expense of sectors which are directly dependent on these resources. The government has done very little to protect our precious groundwater resources which are not only finite but also very susceptible to contamination. The problems of point source pollution from landfills and illegal dumping and diffuse sources of pollutions from certain practices in agriculture and other activities remain unchecked by the government. The contamination of our groundwater with nitrates and more dangerous substances is now widespread.

As a result, the present quality of drinking water in Attard, Victoria, Naxxar, Qormi and Mosta is characterised by nitrate levels that exceed the acceptable European threshold for drinking water. The MRA has done nothing to avert this situation and continues to fail to protect consumers from poor quality tap water derived from groundwater.

Now that the EU directives on groundwater and drinking water have been transposed to Maltese legislation we expect the regulator, namely the MRA, to inform citizens about the quality of tap water and take the necessary action against the operator responsible for our tap water. Such action, which may lead to the operator having to respond to the European Court of Justice, would normally be taken in any EU country where the regulator is distinct from the operator. Not so in Malta, where, thanks to the musical chairs played under the PN administration, we find that operators suddenly become regulators.

Electrical generation is another sector where mismanagement and bad planning have led to shortages and unsustainable power generation under the PN. According to the government, the much-vaunted Delimara power station was supposed to solve all our electrical needs. In reality, this new power station built partly on reclaimed land did not fulfill the growing need for electricity, which had to be supplemented by the old Marsa power station.

The plans of the PN administration for Delimara were to build a power station relying on inefficient steam turbines fed by heavy oil fuel. Three hideous giant chimneys (in the EIA drawings for the Delimara power station these were "mistakenly" represented as much smaller) spewing dangerous emissions were envisaged. In 1996 plans were changed and thanks to the initiative of the Labour government the more energy efficient combined cycle power plants were planned and constructed, eliminating the need of adding two more giant chimneys to the existing chimney visible from most parts of Malta.

This innovative technology-based approach can also be applied to what is possibly the most finite of our resources, limestone. The PN government has done nothing to rationalise limestone quarry production and to perfect it from the onslaught of foreign competition. Instead, Mepa is forced to contradict its minerals subject plan and depreciate the good quality limestone at Ghallis so that a landfill can be built there. What will happen to the large quantities of valuable limestone excavated from Ghallis remains a mystery.

Unsustainable practices such as the offshore dumping on the seabed of useful rock continues unabated. The director general of Mepa is now trying to open a debate on the issue of sea reclamation (The Times, September 1). Godwin Cassar ends his article quite predictably by telling us that a report will ensue on this matter. Malta cannot keep wasting time for the benefit of the familiar handful of well-paid consultants and remain hostage to antiquated people in key positions whose record is the disastrous state of the environment we live in.

Labour supports sea reclamation because of its long-term benefits as a result of the increase in the available land area and the coastal perimeter. Densely populated countries, namely Japan, Singapore and Monaco, have already embarked on impressive sea reclamation projects. Surely, these developed countries that are blessed with efficient government and incorruptible officials cannot be doing the wrong thing (although not according to our Mepa!).

Mr Mizzi is the Malta Labour Party's main spokesman for infrastructural services.