Sant denounces privatisation 'fiascos'

The Labour Party would carry out a study with a view to revising the water and electricity tariffs and assist social cases if it were in office, party leader Alfred Sant said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference in reply to the Prime Minister's on Saturday over the government's three years in office, Dr Sant said time had shown that Malta was being run "by an incompetent, arrogant government".

Referring to the surcharge issue, Dr Sant said he would strive to re-introduce hedging to stabilise fuel prices and help various economic sectors, such as the manufacturing industry and tourism. The MLP would also offer incentives for the introduction of alternative energy sources and encourage energy conservation.

The Labour leader painted a bleak picture of the country, describing the government's track record on the economy as "disastrous", adding that the government was not delivering what it had promised. People wanted a change, he insisted.

According to Dr Sant, statistics showed that the country had a high rate of unemployment, high inflation, a stagnant economy, and a tourism sector that was stagnated, apart from a drop in exports.

Direct foreign investment was very low, and the health service was getting worse and education failing because illiteracy rates were rising.

The government had made "fiascos" of privatisations, selling entities for a song, while staffing its agencies with "friends of friends" who covered up its blunders.

He repeated what he said last Sunday that there was "a bagful of corruption" in the planned development zone extensions. When asked, Dr Sant said he was not aware whether Labour MPs or candidates owned land that would be included in the new boundaries.

"There could be some who were discriminated against in 1988 and some may truly deserve being included in the schemes. But I have no doubt that barons had their land included too, and it's obscene that the Cabinet was pushing this when the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was against the extensions," he said.

Dr Sant would not say how he would vote on the proposed constitutional amendment for Gozo to be considered a single electoral district.

"If Gozo is used as a gimmick to change other electoral districts, the MLP would not agree to it," he said.