The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise has expressed its "utter disbelief" at the compensation package offered to bus owners, saying the government ought to use public funds in a more judicious manner. The Chamber has demanded that the government fulfil its responsibility towards the taxpayer.

Meanwhile, a meeting called by the Public Transport Association for bus owners and operators, which started at 10 last night, was still on at the time of going to press.

As the public transport system heads for a major reform, with a new operator to take over, the government is offering bus owners €98,000 in compensation for old buses and €118,000 to those who own low-floor buses. The sums include renouncing their licence.

The offer also includes a 10-year guaranteed job with the new service provider at a wage of at least €9,486 a year. At present 508 public transport buses are in operation, of which 131 are low-floor.

The government wants to sell the low-floor buses to the new operator and scrap the old ones, except for those classified as vintage which will be exhibited in a transport museum.

On Saturday, Transport Minister Austin Gatt gave bus owners until tomorrow to decide whether to accept the offer, a deadline linked to commitments made to prospective bidders.

"Taxpayers' money must be channelled into areas that are priorities for the country at this present moment in time," chamber president Helga Ellul said in the statement.

Such funds, she added, needed to be invested in those areas where the country and its people were most likely to benefit.

Ms Ellul yesterday tore apart the job guarantee aspect of the government's offer: "Job guarantees are unheard of in this day and age, let alone a 10-year guarantee, and they should certainly not be offered on top of pay-out compensation figures. This is not how the real world operates."

She said every day operators in the business community were continually looking for ways and means to maintain their competitiveness in the face of an increasingly difficult environment.

"The only guarantees we have for 2010 are high energy tariffs and a high cost of living adjustment. This is the Drydocks all over again," she added.

The government was spending €50 million to move out the current public transport operators but was only investing the €10 million to cushion the impact of the utility tariffs on residents and €2.5 million for businesses.

"In terms of its principles, in favour of safeguarding national competitiveness and environmental sustainability, the chamber certainly recognises the importance of the public transport reform, especially if this shall finally translate into an efficient service," Ms Ellul said.

"It is, however, inconceivable that the current transport operators who have enjoyed monopoly conditions for so long are now to be compensated at the expense of the taxpayer," she added.

She appealed to the government not to "afford ridiculous amounts of taxpayers' money to compensate a limited amount of people making unreasonable demands". Such levels of compensation cannot be justified in terms of national economic benefit, she said.

Reacting to Ms Ellul's comments, Public Transport Association president Victor Spiteri said the compensation was being given to make up for loss of business just six years after the government had lured self-employed owners into investing in new buses.

Moreover, the 10-year job guarantee was not something bus owners were after but a move that would benefit those who were employed as drivers.

With regard to the shipyards comparison, Mr Spiteri said the public transport reform and the situation at the Malta Drydocks were totally unconnected - while bus owners invested a lot of money in their business, shipyard workers had no investment in the company.