‘Road contractors facing problems’

There were road contractors who were facing economical problems due to lack of work, Opposition spokesman on the infrastructure Charles Buhagiar told Parliament on Tuesday.

Speaking on the Budget debate on the ministry of infrastructure and transport, Mr Buhagiar said road builders needed to have continuity in their work and the government should have a continuous programme of works,

A similar situation could be found with respect to roads in residential areas, where 468 roads were promised and many were still not ready.

Referring to the road which had to lead to Smart City, Mr Buhagiar said the contractor had to ensure it did not put extra pressure on Fgura and did not take too much agricultural land in the area.

The government had said the foot bridge in Mrieħel would not be built because it was not economically feasible. Still, alternatives were needed, even if only 42 individuals crossed the road.

Mr Buhagiar said there were projects which were mentioned in various Budgets which had never materialised. Some roads had to be ready by 2013 if government were to utilise EU funds. A way had to be found in tender appeals so that works start quickly for EU funds not to be endangered.

Mr Buhagiar felt that certain officials working in the VRT department had to be suspended because they had failed to report those garages that were abusing.

Opposition spokesman on communications Chris Cardona said that the government had been successful in the Information and Technology sector yet it was doing nothing to help foundations and SMEs investing in the sector. Taxes and utility bills continued to put an unnecessary strain on the sector.

The Foundation for Information Technology Accessibility was providing people with disability equal access to information and also provided these people with special hardware needed for them to practice. They had earlier requested the government to help FITA in buying this hardware but it did not offer a helping hand.

While congratulating the government for the first phase of Smart City, Dr Cardona claimed that the government now had to keep his promise made to all those students taking up IT courses at Mcast and University. The minister had earlier said that Smart City was to employ 6,000 people. He pointed out that rent costs at Smart City were deemed to be expensive and enterprises were finding it difficult to relocate their business.

The opposition was in favour of educational campaigns like the “ICT for All Scheme”, which cost €200,000. But who was awarded the contract? Had there been a public call?

Helena Dalli (PL) said that Air Malta had made positive progress under Labour administrations. Yet when responsibility for the national airline was passed to Minister Gatt, he did not manage it well. The same could be said for PBS, Enemalta and other public corporations and public investments under Dr Gatt.

Other MPs taking part in the debate were Joe Debono Grech (PL) and Ċensu Galea, Philip Mifsud and Charlò Bonnici (PN)