Black sheep in every flock

Malta is to retain its Objective One status. It has been reported that between the years 2007-2013 Malta will receive the sum of Lm250-Lm300 million.

"We don't know what will happen after 2013," said the editor of a local daily in English. Hopefully, after that date, our gross domestic product per capita will have surpassed the 75 per cent threshold having matured into a fully grown independent adult like that of most of our European counterparts.

Another encouraging piece of news in the same paper ran along the lines that three new arterial roads, with brand new drainage, water and electricity, telephone and TV systems in place, will very soon be open to traffic. We are now reaping the fruit of the Lm14 million Italian Protocol funds awarded to us for the much-needed major roads projects. Smoothly and steadily, we will soon, literally, be going places. But we must be patient. We must fervently believe that the benefits from the European Union will, in the long term, turn out to be the "promised" blessing our country has worked so very hard to achieve.

Marring all this is the recent, vile spate of vandalism. I pray that the defacement is not politically motivated. Either way, my heart breaks when I think of the millions of liri invested in a plethora of new projects that might just turn out to be new targets for the cowardly vandals lurking among us in the darkness. Hopefully, this administration will step up police patrols and succeed in catching and putting the hooligans under lock and key.

Last year's list of infrastructural and restoration projects comprises the embellishment of Paceville, of several promenades, gardens and village open spaces as well as of the Upper and Lower Barrakka, Ix-Xarolla windmill, the Imqabba football ground and St Thomas Bay.

This year, apart from the Mdina project and the embellishment of other prominent promenades and gardens, the Ghajn Tuffieha caravan and camping site will get a face-lift. Restoration activity includes that of aqueducts, churches, chapels, monuments, façades of historical buildings, palaces and bastions, the Victoria Lines and the Msida Ghajn tal-Hassilin. The list is surprisingly long.

There is much more to be done but the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure certainly cannot be accused of napping and neglecting Malta's infrastructure and historical heritage.

The government's electoral pledge to safeguard our legacy is being translated into action and, money permitting, I have no doubt that it will continue to embark on as many projects as is realistically possible. Vandalism excluded, the future augurs extremely well as the EU funds can beyond a shadow of doubt, work mega-miracles!

Comparisons are odious but I cannot resist mentioning the 1996-1998 Labour government's record. Do you have any idea how many "embellishment" projects it completed in practically two years? Two: one each year. And the lucky winners were: the Bugibba promenade and Chadwick Lakes! Need I say more?