A fairer deal for expats and tourists

Enemalta Corporation cannot lose any income stream, no matter how weak. It is in a very bad state, both in terms of revenue relative to expenses as well as in terms of its debt burden. Bipartisan plans to use a special purpose vehicle to alleviate its stringent position should presumably be put in operation not before too long.

Enemalta has taken over from Malta Drydocks the undesirable role of being an albatross around the neck of the government

Meanwhile the big news lies in the substantial expressions of interest shown in building a new power station at Delimara and selling energy to the corporation at a cost fixed for five years, possibly longer.

That should be part of the mixed approach whereby the new Government hopes that, within two years, it will be able to redeem its main electoral promise, to reduce electricity tariffs by 25 per cent.

The timeline remains a tall order, even if a good bidder is eventually selected and all the trappings that have to be put in place, including a proper impact assessment exercise, work out.

Meanwhile Enemalta trundles along, surviving with the aid of further government handouts as started by the previous government which ended up by defeating its commitment for the corporation to follow a tariffs policy based on full cost recovery.

For the time being Enemalta has taken over from Malta Drydocks the undesirable role of being an albatross around the neck of the government, which is why it must find ways to increase its revenue streams, including by fuller billing of energy produced and higher and more regular payments for energy billed.

That notwithstanding there is one unquantified but probably small revenue stream which Enemalta should be made to do away with without further delay. That is made up of the discriminatory higher tariffs levied on expatriates who live in Malta. The tariff structure is complicated. Basically, there is a residential rate for Maltese citizens in so far as their first abode goes, and a higher domestic rate for second or more private dwellings.

Expatriates living in Malta are charged at the higher rate and, in some cases, perhaps a higher tariff still. Visitors in this category who work and reside in Malta have been pointing out for a long while that the discrimination is totally unfair. Recently they took to the streets, gently but symbolically so.

I don’t blame them. There is no rational or fair reason why they should not be treated like the rest of us. If they pay income tax at a reduced rate it is because the authorities plan it that way.

And in so far as their consumption taxes go expatriates pay them like the rest of us do. The new government should tackle this issue and remove the blatant discrimination without further ado.

Another area which needs critical looking into relates to the public transport service provided by the Arriva company. In their wisdom the negotiators who dealt with Arriva under the previous government gave the company a concession which is used in a few countries outside Malta.

Thereby Arriva charges a higher fare to passengers who cannot demonstrate that they are residents of Malta. That has raised objections on two fronts. Firstly, tourists who use public transport to get around Malta resent the discrimination, which they deem to be not only unfair but also illegal in terms of European Union rules and customs.

Secondly all too frequently Maltese residents, including youngsters and others who tend to ask for their tickets in English, are required to produce their ID card or other proof of residence.

Again, I do not know how much Arriva makes out of this discrimination. But the authorities should waste no time in negotiating it out of the system.

I understand that representatives of the company met the Prime Minister some weeks ago. I do not exclude that the issue was discussed then; but nothing has resulted yet.

It is not unlikely that Arriva, rather than giving up revenue want to reach an agreement whereby they can increase their earnings. It is possible that they are pressing or will press for higher fares. I do not think that the new Government will be inclined to grasp that nettle, which Arriva should have raised with the previous government, or maybe they raised it without success, the general election being round the corner.

There is a better way out than raising fares. That is, rather obviously, to attract higher usage of the Arriva service. The new Government has been trying to improve routes. If the overall service is placed on a better level, Arriva could carry more passengers without increasing its fleet.

Meanwhile, this is an unnecessary sore point which bus-using tourists carry away with them after they holiday in Malta. Probably the bad publicity costs more than Arriva will lose by applying uniform fares to all users.