MP slams government 'generosity' with CEOs

Labour MP Helena Dalli said yesterday that this government would long be remembered for the generosity it showed with the people it placed in its agencies and companies.

She said in Parliament that while many ordinary workers were worried about the future of their jobs or how to make ends meet, people such as the CEO of Heritage Malta were given a salary of Lm18,000 plus an additional Lm5,000 for promoting cultural heritage, as if that was not part of his role, a performance bonus of 15 per cent, a fully expensed car, life insurance and medical insurance for him and his family. Heritage Malta also forked out Lm3,000 to cover this CEO's travel from the US to Malta, as if there wasn't a sufficiently qualified person in Malta for this post.

Mrs Dalli said that when the Prime Minister boasted of the economy doing well, the question which needed to be asked was "for whom" ?

It was certainly doing well for such CEOs, including the former CEO of the Malta Tourism Authority who resigned after declaring "mission accomplished" but continued to receive his salary.

And then last week the Prime Minister was unable to unequivocally declare that health services would remain free of charge for the people.

Mrs Dalli was speaking during the second day of debate on the Budget Measures Implementation Bill.

She said the people were seeing a decline in their purchasing power and many workers also had to accept a deterioration of their working conditions, or face dismissal. Some employers were profiting from the situation, such as by engaging people on probation only to dismiss them near the end of their term so as to take in a new batch every time.

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, who spoke first yesterday, said the challenge Malta faced in tourism was to grapple with changing trends as the industry gave less importance to tour operators. As a consequence Malta opened up to low cost carriers late last year and started offering incentives to airlines such as Ryanair. Other low cost carriers also started operating to Malta including Meridiana which flew from Bologna.

Germanwings will operate from Cologne and Stuttgart later this year providing a much needed boost to seat capacity on the German route.

At the same time the government was investing heavily in improving the tourism product, particularly cultural attractions and the environment. This budget was generous to tourism with a total allocation of just over Lm15 million, up 40 per cent from 2006. Lm8 million would go to the MTA and Lm7.3 million for improvements to the tourism product including the Mnajdra temples project, beach development, direct assistance schemes, overseas marketing and branding.

Particular attention was being given to the promotion of Gozo. Gozo licence holders were now enjoying a reduction of their fees because of seasonality, and the island was being promoted not just for leisure and diving tourism but also as a cruise liner destination and for conference and incentive travel.

Dr Zammit Dimech said NSO figures for the whole of last year showed a 46,500 drop in arrivals but there was growth in November and December which showed the benefits of the introduction of low cost carriers.

The number of cruise line passengers grew by 27.4 per cent.

Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett said the most important feature of the budget speech was confirmation of the way the deficit had dropped below 3 per cent of GDP and how this decline would continue to be sustained - without any slackening of the capital investment programme or social spending.

The Roads Ministry, thanks also to EU funding, was enjoying a record allocation for road building. The past year had seen completion or substantial progress on the rebuilding of Civil Aviation Road, the road to Hal Far and the Victoria- San Lawrenz Road. A programme for the rebuilding of 450 residential roads was launched, with interventions made already in 150 of them.

This year EU funds would be channelled to the by-pass road to Marsascala, Valletta Road, Zurrieq, part of Birkirkara Bypass, Council of Europe Road, Luqa, and the road to the cruise passenger terminal.

Turning to public transport, Mr Mugliett observed that bus fares had not risen since January 2005 even though diesel prices had risen substantially since. The government absorbed most of that increase in the interest of the people.

Indeed not only had the people not seen any new taxes but taxation were going down. Income tax cuts came into effect last month and the departure tax would be halved in June.

In the area of vehicle registration and licensing, this Bill widened the eligibility of vintage vehicles for lower fees.

Labour MP Noel Farrugia said Mr Mugliett had projected an outlay of Lm10 million on roads but then spent Lm19 million including VAT.

The Tourism Minister did not say anything about the companies which had left Malta, such as Thomson, which used to operate 20 weekly flights to Malta during the summer and 12 in winter and now only operated two flights per week.

The main challenge facing tourism was competitiveness.

Mr Farrugia said lack of planning and misuse of public funds could be seen everywhere. At the abattoir Lm4.5 million had been spent on an incinerator which had still not been commissioned and a mobile unit meant for emergencies was being used instead, at high cost.

Farmers and producers were seeing their conditions deteriorate even when the government was boasting of higher subsidies.

The government's lack of attention for what the people were experiencing could also be seen in its inaction to stem the hike of property prices.