Opposition spokesman Tony Bezzina yesterday took the government to task, accusing it of having no clear objectives on transport and the infrastructure.

Speaking during the debate in second reading of the Budget Measures Implementation Bill, Mr Bezzina said the government was weak on capital projects and was trying to make its own projects that originated under the previous administration.

These included the flyover at Kappara, the Coast Road and Cospicua waterfront projects, the work on December 13 Road and the flood relief project.

He said the government reached its nadir with the cold war with Arriva, which operated public transport. This led to measures for which the Maltese had to pay through taxation.

The public transport service had weakened since it was taken over by the government.

There was lack of cleanliness and punctuality, with the service becoming less frequent. The government takeover of the service meant that the Maltese had to pay for the annual loss of €47 million in running the service.

The government would end up spending more on public transport now that Arriva had pulled out and this could be seen from Arriva’s audited accounts.

“We are spending all this money and, yet, the service has deteriorated, with lack of punctuality, efficiency and infrequent buses.

“Transport Minister Joe Mizzi can no longer blame Arriva and the previous administration.”

In less than a week, Mr Bezzina pointed out, two buses had caught fire.

Was it true that the expense on spare parts has been reduced? Was the minister no longer feeling the need to take the bus?

The truth was that the company had already invested €21 million more and ticket sales were increasing but when this government suspended the bendy buses, Arriva collapsed.

Seeing the new bus routes, commuters had noticed that the government had not taken heed of public consultation.

The Mater Dei Hospital route had become longer or less frequent from certain points.

The only difference is that we are now back to square one, with all buses departing and arriving in Valletta. Did this have to take a year? The government did not seem to care for the workers anymore and it had not given them any guarantees that they would not lose their jobs.

In a recent survey, most said that the service remained the same or was worse than before.

Mr Bezzina said the government was not able to safeguard the country’s interest because it had raised public transport expenditure.

The Kappara flyover, Dock Number One and December 13 Road were all projects conceived by the previous administration and it was thanks to former ministers, such as Ċensu Galea, Ninu Zammit and George Pullicino, that the south of the island was given a facelift.

The government reached its nadir with the cold war with Arriva

The work to improve safety on the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq Coast Road was all done under a PN administration. “How can we take Minister Mizzi seriously when he tries to take credit for it? This is all shameless spin,” he said.

The only thing this government did was the traffic junction at Marsa but when one looked into it carefully, it was not innocent as it seemed. The factories in front of Super One station would be reallocated so that a huge parking area of 250 cars could be built.

This was an example of how the government was giving preference to the Labour Party.

What was taking place in Marsa would involve an enormous expense when there were already two parking areas available.

Concluding, Mr Bezzina said the footprint would increase, which meant the value of the Labour Party’s property would also increase considerably. How much was this going to cost?

And if the funds were coming from the EU, as Malta going to lose its credibility when the EU realised where the funds had gone?

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