Labour trying to disrupt sports complex - Gonzi

The Prime Minister yesterday accused Labour of trying to disrupt the redevelopment of the White Rocks complex into a €200 million sports village.

Lawrence Gonzi called on the sports community to take note of what was going on, likening them to "spectators" watching the government trying to secure a project that would bring the turnaround they had been waiting for.

Speaking during an interview broadcast on Radio 101, Dr Gonzi referred to comparisons which had started being made in the press between the latest sports complex proposal and the tourism development which fell through in 2003.

He said different governments, including Labour between 1996 and 1998, had tried to find a solution to the dilapidated White Rocks complex but had failed. Now his government had come up with a proposal that raked in serious investment and would develop the sports scene in Malta.

The defence comes after the Labour party and several commentators, including former PN Minister Michael Falzon, raised a number of questions about the announced project, an investment by a British consortium, White Rocks Holding Co Ltd., which will see the development of a sports complex.

This will include a rugby stadium but also 300 residential units on the footprint of the dilapidated tourist complex in Pembroke.

The investment secured in 2001, which eventually fell through after 2003, was for a hotel and tourism-related services and represented an investment of some €58 million.

However, following the 9/11 attacks and the SARS scare, the developers wanted to introduce a real estate element, as they felt the tourist element was not enough to make the project viable in the prevailing circumstances.

Both Eddie Fenech Adami and his successor Dr Gonzi had turned down any suggestion of real estate being incorporated to the project.

During his interview, the Prime Minister acknowledged this but stressed the difference in the size of the two investments and the fact that this latest project would include a sports complex serving 40 different sports disciplines.

He reiterated that he would be presenting all the details of the project in Parliament after negotiations were concluded but heavily criticised Labour for "casting doubt" on the project, adding that the Opposition had become locked in a destructive mentality.

Earlier, Dr Gonzi was asked about the results of a recent EU perceptions survey, which last week reported that 61 per cent of Maltese respondents said they were struggling to make ends meet.

Dr Gonzi said his party would not be happy until there was not a single person at the risk of poverty.

However, he made a distinction between a survey that calculated the number of people risking poverty or living in poverty and perception surveys which polled how people felt.

After the water and electricity bills were put up, it was not surprising that people felt they had been affected and declared they were finding it harder to make ends meet, he said. "I can sincerely understand this".

However, the government had put measures in place to make sure vulnerable citizens were safeguarded, he pointed out, stressing that the change was needed if Malta was to avoid the sort of financial trouble a number of large European economies were facing.

In fact, he said, people would do well to watch what perception surveys would say in those countries which were currently implementing tough budgets to fend off their excessive financial shortfalls.