Population growth, cleanliness in St Paul's (2)

I refer to my previous correspondence The Real Plight of Qawra and Buġibba (August 13) and the subsequent and various negative letters whose authors, to say the least, are unhappy with the services and response they receive from the St Paul's Bay local council.

Notwithstanding the fact that one must appreciate that the council's job is not always an easy one and that it cannot please everyone all the time, one cannot just sit back and accept the amateurish approach and excuses given by this council and their spokesmen and neither can one understand why the readers are always in the wrong while the council seems to be always right!

The issue that is constantly highlighted is that St Paul's Bay sees the number of residents growing from some 20,000 in the winter months to 70,000 in summer and that the central government still funds the council to maintain only 20,000 residents! One cannot understand why the government is penalising our district when it has been made absolutely clear that this is a major problem!

The council or those who speak on its behalf keep repeating the same lines again year after year, basically that they are funded to look after 20,000 and they have to cater for an influx of 70,000 every year. Some think that is meant to stop the worn-out residents of Qawra and Buġibba from expressing their anger and frustrations at the total neglect of what has become a Third World seaside residential resort.

The residents have a number of actions they are willing to take to try and re-instil some pride back into their community and the areas they live in and above all to make the government see sense over such an unfair practice.

This action will be done in various forms of non-political protests, hopefully led and backed by the local council members, and attended by the members of Parliament of both political parties representing the district, as well as the residents themselves. The residents are hoping that they do not have to wait for the next general election to show any government their displeasure at the effect these unfair policies are having on their district.

Though, as usually happens in our country, the lead-up to the general election is the time to moan as it is the only time that the tax-paying citizen is listened to, the government has to be made to understand once and for all that try as hard as they have, St Paul's Bay council could not make the parable of feeding the thousands from five loaves of bread and two fish come true.

One of the hot issues that infuriate the residents is the exorbitant amounts of money lavished on the now infamous Sirens toilets, money that any responsible council who had their feet on the ground would have invested in repairing the dangerous pavements and road surfaces instead of this folly. Everyone admits that the structure of the original toilets could have been satisfactorily upgraded instead of this lavish building which will forever be a tribute to all those councillors who voted in favour of this public obscenity!

It would be interesting to obtain from St Paul's Bay council a breakdown of the funds allocated by the government versus expenditure by each area covered by the council, namely St Paul's Bay itself, Burmarrad, Xemxija, Wardija, Buġibba and Qawra, to see what expenditure has been invested in Qawra and Buġibba when compared with the other areas which fall under St Paul's Bay council. The feeling that exists among the residents of Qawra and Buġibba is that for a long number of years St Paul's Bay council has been using the funds allocated by the government for Qawra and Buġibba residents to upgrade other related areas, including St Paul's Bay itself where the majority of votes is situated. If this is indeed the case it would be abusive and most unfair and the solution would surely be for a separate council for Qawra and Buġibba.