Top businessman touches some raw nerves

A businessman of the calibre of Albert Mizzi is always worth listening to. In a wide-ranging interview with The Sunday Times, he touched a number of raw nerves and he may also have raised eyebrows at some of the remarks he passed over planned property development at Manoel Island.

He had some strong comments to make when he talked about political dishonesty but he also raised very important points about tax evasion, cost reduction and work practices.

Having helped to give birth to Air Malta, he naturally feels sad that the airline has found itself in such a difficult situation today. He is, of course, right in arguing that reducing the staff complement is not enough to ensure the airline’s survival. He said: “Today, things have changed. You don’t run something with 50 people when with technology you can run it with 10” adding that there had to be a complete change in practices and working conditions.

The truth is that, like other places controlled by the government, Air Malta was, over the years, loaded with workers that the airline simply did not need. It was the taxpayer that paid for this wanton political irresponsibility. Mr Mizzi does not mince words when he comes to talk about this.

It was the politicians who made Air Malta take on additional workers that it did not need. “To me, politicians, at least many of them, are the most dishonest people in this world.” Perhaps Mr Mizzi would, today, rue the day when he did not stand up to the politicians whenever they ordered the airline to take up “their” people.

His views about the promotion of people who are less deserving than others are also strong. Changing work practices is a very hard nut to crack. Again, it is not only at Air Malta that work practices need to change but at quite a number of other places, such as Enemalta and Mater Dei Hospital, to mention just two. But trade unions often put up strong resistance, delaying attempts at streamlining operations even when this becomes absolutely necessary.

However, it is where Mr Mizzi touched on development at Tignè Point and on their plans for property development at Manoel Island that he really touched raw nerves.

Tignè Point may have won awards but it is generally viewed with very mixed feelings as it has added to the jungle of concrete in that part of the island.

Did it not bother Mr Mizzi that it blighted the view from Valletta? Mr Mizzi was at least honest enough to admit that, today, he has second thoughts about how it looks from Valletta. There is actually only one word how to describe how it looks from Valletta: ugly.

What grated a lot in the interview was his stand over the planned development at Manoel Island. He said: “If you believe that Manoel Island should be ‘saved’ from a development you wanted all those years ago, we are willing to discuss it”. The company is willing to talk if the taxpayer is willing to compensate it for unrecoverable costs.

Excellent work has been done in the restoration of Fort Manoel but should the concrete jungle now be extended to Manoel Island or a big part of it? Or, to put it another way, should the country sacrifice Manoel Island for any wrong administrative decision?

Is it too late to find ways and means how to save Manoel Island?