MHRA will not attend tariffs protest

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association has joined the growing list of organisations that have decided not to join the street protest against the utility tariffs on Sunday.

Instead, the MHRA wants to "use other avenues" to discuss mitigation measures with the government, association president George Micallef said yesterday.

Contacted by The Times, Mr Micallef said the MHRA respected the unions for wanting to take to the streets but insisted "this is not our style".

Għaqda Unions Maltin, which includes 10 unions in the Forum and the General Workers' Union, together with the Labour Party and Alternattiva Demokratika, will be holding a march to protest against the high utility rates. The MHRA was the most vociferous of the social partners on the issue.The Confederation of Malta Trade Unions has declined to take part in the protest, saying it would do more harm than good to the country,

Asked if the MHRA's decision had been influenced by the fact that the association and the government were close to reaching an agreement on certain measures, Mr Micallef replied in the negative, saying these were two separate issues.

Hotels and restaurants may benefit from schemes to finance investment in alternative energy as a means to cushion the hike in utility rates. Rather than subsidise the impact directly, the government is working on special schemes to help them invest in reducing their water and electricity consumption.

In a statement issued yesterday, the MHRA once again appealed to the government to reconsider the rates.

"The staggering increase in the utility tariffs has come at a time when tourism is at its weakest ever; 2009 was one of the worst years and the tourism industry needs support and time until it recovers. The increases as announced are simply unsustainable even at the best of times, let alone at a time when many hotels and restaurants are battling to keep their heads above water."

It said the new tariffs were not just the result of the hike in the price of fuel, but the result of years of mismanagement and inefficiency at Enemalta.

"The industry is now expected to foot the bill for this mismanagement and inefficiency at the worst possible time," the MHRA said.

"We are also concerned by the creation of the Automated Revenue Management Systems (ARMS) division, which is threatening and browbeating consumers and members of our association at a time when a helping hand would be more in order."

It said it understood the government was making every effort to secure an increase in the number of visitors to Malta this year. But, although there was a general expectation that the negative trends would begin to reverse in 2010, it was folly to believe normality would be achieved before 2011.

"The market remains incredibly price sensitive and it will take time to achieve revenues similar to that registered pre-2009. Returning to normality is not enough; hotels must also recoup losses registered in 2009 and 2010."

In a separate statement, the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise - another organisation that declined the invite to attend the protest - warned that the government's intention to assist firms facing difficulties in meeting their utility bills on a company-by-company basis may not necessarily be effective with small and medium enterprises.

The Chamber said that in talks it was holding with the government on ways to ease the impact of the tariffs, it had suggested, among other things, the extension of night metering and lowering the eligibility threshold. Moreover, it stressed that the new full-cost recovery strategy for Enemalta could not be introduced within a short time frame.

The Chamber urged the government to open up a holistic dialogue on the sustainability of energy generation.

It reiterated that the current utility tariffs would negatively impact competitiveness and fuel inflation resulting, in turn, in strong demands for cost-of-living adjustments in the next Budget.

"Utility rates are a threat to business competitiveness, irrespective of sector and size. Naturally, the country can neither afford to erode its competitiveness nor stimulate higher inflation."