Transport Minister Austin Gatt politicised the issue on the state of roads by blaming the Labour Administration of more than 20 years ago for the crumbling road infrastructure. By doing so, his good intentions about improving the roads and the transport system are questioned.
The admission by the minister that the roads are less than perfect and that he is not happy about this situation is a remarkable understatement.
The government's plans to remedy this situation are still not well defined. But from the little that has been revealed, some may rightly have doubts about how feasible such plans are. To resolve the road infrastructure problems the country first needs to identify what the causes of such a massive failure are.
Given the state of so many roads, one can easily argue that contractors are possibly incapable, ill-equipped and unmotivated to service the road network to high technical standards. But that would be underestimating the resourcefulness of contractors who have shown their ability to excel in the construction of all types of complex civil engineering structures.
Some very good roads attaining very high standards have been built, hundreds or acres of first-class land from the sea at the Freeport have been reclaimed and contractors have also built a "skyscraper" in the middle of Paceville. They took up challenges and invested in new equipment and techniques to optimise their output. They are likely to do the same if road maintenance tenders have incentives built in to stimulate their entrepreneurial instincts.
What is needed is a professional approach in issuing tenders that include clauses ensuring high-quality standards both in the construction and the maintenance of roads. The system of awarding tenders to the lowest bidder, ignoring the value-for-money concept, will not yield good results.
Equally important is the existence of the political will to enforce discipline in all cases where the conditions of a road maintenance contract have been breached by a contractor. There are some good technical project managers who can identify such failures when they occur. But they need to have their hands strengthened by politicians to enforce compliance.
The minister also admitted that the much-desired transport reform is already stalling a few months after being announced. The public transport system is failing the thousands of local and foreign users most of whom have no alternative but to make do with what is available.
Private-public partnerships could be a solution. But they can never be justified if they are simply a means for the government to abdicate its responsibility to provide a decent physical road infrastructure that is so vital for economic prosperity.
If the government has been incapable of enforcing discipline on private contractors in the past 20 years, how will the proposed private-public partnerships secure better results?
The Transport Minister will do well to follow President Barack Obama's advice when he said that "Nothing will be gained by spending time and energy laying blame on the past". What the crumbling road infrastructure and public transport service need is a clear vision for a modern road and transport system achieved through strong political oversight but implemented by private enterprise.