Labour will finish Cospicua’s Dock One project, rebuild the Birżebbuġa waterpolo pitch and construct a pedestrian crossing on the Mrieħel Bypass, according to Joseph Muscat.
In a whirlwind tour of the three sites yesterday morning, the Labour leader said the Dock One regener-ation project – dogged by delays – would be “one of the first” projects to be concluded.
His 10-minute stopover at Cospicua was disrupted by heavy rain before he travelled to Birżebbuġa, where he was greeted by a crowd of supporters huddled together against the wind.
Dr Muscat stood next to the dilapidated waterpolo pitch metres away from a sign erected by the Resources Ministry last year that read Works In Progress.
He said a Labour government would finish the project and give residents back the waterpolo pitch as compensation for the inconvenience caused by industrial activity in the area.
Dr Muscat’s third stop was Qormi, where a small community has long clamoured for the construction of a footbridge over the Mrieħel Bypass to be able to make it to the town centre.
In 2005 two teenage girls died when they were run over while crossing the busy road to go home.
A footbridge was promised but plans were shelved by the current Administration, with Transport Minister Austin Gatt saying it was not feasible because too few people crossed the road.
“This is a fallacious argument, especially coming from someone who built a bridge to nowhere in Grand Harbour that is used by no one,” Dr Muscat said.
He pledged a Labour government would allocate money for a pedestrian crossing in next year’s Budget.
“No community is small enough,” he insisted.
Dr Muscat was speaking inside the living room of a Qormi family that opened its house to his entourage and journalists because of the bad weather.
The Labour leader’s Cospicua visit was rebuked by Dr Gatt. In a statement the minister said the Dock One project was started by a Nationalist Administration. “Dr Muscat is now trying to make it his own.”
PL leader refutes Father Christmas comparisons
Joseph Muscat yesterday refuted any comparison with Father Christmas when asked if a sceptical electorate could believe electoral freebies dished out by political parties.
The Labour leader insisted his party ’s proposals were “realistic”, formed part of a holistic plan and had a price tag to go with them.
“We will not engage in the politics of auction,” Dr Muscat said, adding the PL was being responsible by pledging that which it could deliver.
On Thursday, Labour promised to give Year 4 students a tablet computer, and soon after that the Nationalist Party upped the stakes and pledged to give one to all primary and secondary school students.