Land working group formed

A working group has been set up between the Parliamentary Secretariat for Revenues and Land and the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs to see to the scheme under which the title of agricultural land would be transferred to the farmers.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday during the debate in reply to the President's speech at the state opening of Parliament, Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi addressed opposition criticism that this transfer to deed had been promised long ago but the government was dragging its feet.

Earlier in his speech, Dr Azzopardi said that despite limited resources, a good amount of work had been carried out by the Joint Office. He was committed to strengthen human resources, decrease consumers' waiting time and minimise any land speculation. It was not right for a building to be bought for a nominal sum through the Joint Office, only to be sold a few weeks later, at a much higher price.

The President had emphasised the careful and rational use of Government property, within the limits of sustainable development. Dr Azzopardi said he planned to make all Government property available to all to view at the click of a button - an initiative which would require heavy funding.

The enforcement section would be strengthened through the employment of more people. The aim was to create an equal playing field when it came to the renting out of Government property. The government owed Lm19 million to owners whose property it had taken for public use. Payment of compensation to these owners would be addressed in the coming five years.

The Land Arbitration Board, he said, would also be reformed to increase its efficiency. There needed to be increased transparency in the Lands Department.

Dr Stephen Spiteri (PN) said that the government was underpinning the better quality of life with the environmental future. The Malta Council for Economic and Social Development had an important role to play in suggesting future policies. Furthermore, with the Prime Minister taking Mepa under his wing, the government was guaranteeing a better future.

Better efficient use of EU funds was crucial and the members of parliament should be vigilant in this field. The emphasis now was how to administer the primary health care and the relationship between the public and private health sector. He called for an overhaul of the conditions of doctors who had just graduated to avoid a brain drain because pay and conditions offered by hospitals abroad were more lucrative.

Labour MP Charles Buhagiar referred to the PN electoral manifesto and said that the government was back-tracking on its promises. He mentioned the subsidies on energy-saving white goods, the equity-sharing scheme and the promised appointment, after public calls, of members to government boards. Various boards had been appointed, all staffed by people who had well-known Nationalist political leaning. The PN had time and again promised the rent laws reform, the development of Dock No 1 and the Crafts Village at Ta' Qali. Again, nothing had been done.

Seven years ago the PN government had issued a call to transfer the title of land of government agricultural land to the farmers. From 8,000 applications, the government had signed contracts with only 1,000.

Turning to the proposed Mepa reform, Mr Buhagiar asked what was Minister George Pullicino doing during the past five years when he was responsible for Mepa. One of the worst decisions Mepa had taken was to allow two-storey residences to be turned to three storeys, a penthouse and an underlying semi-basement garage. Village cores have ended up as building sites because people were now pulling houses down and re-building them into apartments. Mepa was not giving enough importance to urban spaces. Not only, but an area designated as a playing field in Attard was now earmarked for development.

And despite promises of road modernisations, work on the Regional Road Bridge and the St Paul's Bay's by-pass were still in progress.

MLP deputy leader Michael Falzon congratulated the writers of the President's speech for its eloquence. It focused on cooperation and reciprocal respect for the country to face the challenges ahead. But the government had not followed any of this when it again took Malta into the Partnership for Peace programme.

The government had promised a plan for the economy based on a reform of the taxation system to create more economic activity and better employment. But it seemed that electoral promises no longer held water. Dr Falzon said that at last the government was acknowledging that education was the best tool to help the people. It was a Labour government which had legislated for an obligatory education for all and increased the obligatory age to 16. He hoped the government would be successful in its educational reform, at least so that Malta would not remain at the bottom rung of the EU list when it came to the Lisbon targets on this nsector.

Research and development were next to non-existent.

Dr Falzon asked if the temporary suspension of the equity sharing scheme was part of the new government policy to help more Maltese and Gozitans become home owners. He said the government should be at the forefront when it came to safeguarding the environment especially considering the country's size, built-up areas and the amount of traffic circulating. There were many buildings which were not up to European Standards, including the Delimara power station, which did not even have precipitators.

There was lack of planning in the building of the new hospital, which did not have a single water heater or a single photovoltaic cell.

Dr Falzon said he hoped that the government would really follow the programme outlined in President's speech, which called for cooperation and reciprocal respect. The opposition, he said, was willing and looked forward to working with the government to give the country the best it deserved.