The colourful fun trains that rattle along some of Malta’s more picturesque towns are usually chock-a-block with tourists eager to snap holiday pictures of Mediterranean sights.
Projects in other towns are started and finished, but here that’s not the case. Why?
But antique buildings and shimmering seascapes took a back seat to overgrown gardens and derelict estates yesterday, as Cospicua mayor Joe Scerri took journalists on a train tour of the town’s shortcomings.
The tour culminated with a protest along the Cospicua waterfront attended by 150-odd residents, with Mr Scerri telling protesters that the council was being blamed for the central Government’s inaction.
“We’ve been quiet and agreeable for too long. Projects in other towns are started and finished, but here that’s not the case. Why?” asked the mayor.
The council’s list of laments stretches all across Cospicua, from a shattered pavement along Silver Jubilee Street to a missing bus shelter on the other end of the town, on Immaculate Conception Street.
“Residents are right to complain, but the local council ends up getting the blame for things which are the Government’s responsibility,” Mr Scerri argued.
Complaints vary in scope, from the aforementioned pavement to the much-maligned Dock 1 works and an alleged €416,000 promise made to the council by former local councils minister Chris Said.
According to Mr Scerri, Dr Said had promised to make project funding available to the Cospicua council, to make it up for the locality having lost out on €416,000 between 1994 and 2010 because of a funding formula which did not take alleyways and stepped streets into consideration.
When contacted by The Times, Dr Said denied Mr Scerri’s claim. “The council was right to complain about the way the formula was structured, and we then changed it to make sure towns like Cospicua weren’t penalised. But at no point were any figures discussed or project promises made.”
As the fun train snaked through Cospicua streets, Mr Scerri told journalists that children attending St Margarita College were being endangered by Transport Malta’s failure to install a pedestrian crossing.
Disavowal of responsibility was a familiar theme throughout, with areas such as Kwartieri San Nikola, Sur San Pawl and San Ġwann t’Għuxa also seemingly caught in a to-and-fro between the council and other government entities.
At San Ġwann t’Għuxa, chickens and roosters scurried around as a white billy goat bleated to itself. Sur San Pawl was even more primeval, with no paved streets, broken tree branches spilling onto the road and litter dotted around the area’s ramshackle houses.
As a pack of dogs chased after the train, Mr Scerri said the council had been asking the Rural Affairs Ministry to spruce up the area since 2008. A ministry spokesman said there were no plans to rehabilitate the area.
The tour of Cospicua ended by the Dock 1 works, which are still far from completion several months after their original completion date. Regatta club president Stephen Paris complained about water and sewage leaks, while a restaurateur next door said water leakages from works had ruined his machinery.
The Government has sacked the original Dock 1 contractor, Marinelli, and issued emergency tenders to complete the works by the end of next July.
Mr Scerri remained sceptical about the revised timeframe. “Paving works by the Band Club were meant to begin by the end of September, but things are still at a standstill. Enough is enough.”
In a press statement, an Infrastructure Ministry spokeswoman said that the Government was doing its utmost to minimise inconvenience, although sewage leaks were due to separate problems which the Water Services Corporation was aware of.
Works on the Dock 1 project, the spokeswoman said, would not resume until after the December 8, to avoid disrupting Cospicua’s feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Cospicua residents were however not in a particularly forgiving mood yesterday, as mention of Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt brought loud boos and catcalls from protesters.
“Things were better in 1944,” one local man sardonically remarked as he surveyed the Dock 1 area. “They managed to rebuild things much quicker back then.”