How to tidy up shabby Malta... fast

For years on end we have been talking about cleaning the islands of their shabby state. For years on end we have been saying that we need to upgrade Product Malta both for the benefit of us Maltese as well as for the thousands of tourists who visit us every year. There is no doubt that the islands look shabby, and the main reason for this is the state of our roads.

One can easily come to this conclusion if we look at the areas where roads have been done up properly and roundabouts are cared for. The place looks completely different and there is hardly any sign of shabbiness. On the contrary these areas look smart and clean and project the islands in a very positive manner. A number of examples are the St Paul's bypass (when the last barrriers are taken away), the road from the airport all the way to Golden Bay and in Gozo, the road from the harbour right up to San Lawrenz and of course others. The embellishment of the roundabouts also gave a very beautiful appearance to these areas.

The only solution to make Malta look tidy is to set a programme over a short period of time to bring the roads up to the required standards. It is only in this way that we can finally make Malta look tidy and smart.

Of course this requires a lot of money (I cannot quantify but surely the government can), so where is this money going to come from? Surely we can tap into EU funds for this purpose. Secondly, all monies collected from licence fees, registration fees and fines for breaking traffic regulations should be used for this purpose. Thirdly the government can either issue bonds specifically for this purpose, or take loans from the banks to be paid over a period of time. These bonds or loans can be paid back through the allocation of funds for roads which are earmarked every year in the budgets. This means that the roads can be upgraded in a short time and paid over a number of years.

In the meantime the islands would be much more attractive both for the Maltese and tourists. It will also make the islands much easier to market as far as tourism is concerned.

Product Malta will finally become the Product Malta we all yearn for.