The government knew there was no chance of delivering what the people were asking for in the public transport sector, as it had already promised the EU that no subsidies would be offered in the negotiations. The problem was that the Nationalist government had not used the EU funds allocated for restructuring the public transport sector. At the very least it could have built structures that people could benefit from, such as subways to help avoid accidents.
This was said yesterday by opposition whip Joe Mizzi during the budget debate on the ministry of infrastructure, investment and communications.
In another speech, opposition spokesman on infrastructure Charles Buhagiar noted that the revenue from the Valletta Controlled Vehicle Access system in the budget was double that of last year. Did this mean the charge was going to double, or that a charge was going to be introduced for the park-and-ride facility?
Early in his speech Mr Mizzi said that the first controversy the PN had encountered as soon as it was re-elected was the public transport one. The people were faced with bullying tactics, panic and bad publicity for Malta. Although the government knew these measures had to be implemented, it had chosen to keep the people in the dark, wasting the transition period granted by the EU.
Mr Mizzi said the answer to the government's failures in the public transport sector was everywhere. The government had had opportunities to negotiate, but each time it said that it foresaw no problems in adopting the policy, with all its consequences.
He said the Malta Maritime Authority, one of the oldest organisations, was often at the centre of controversy. In its 18 years of operation the MMA had kept on promising the same things, such as pier maintenance, and then tried to hide the fact that nothing was being done.
At Malta International Airport a company had been denied entry into a liberalised fuel market. The question in this case was who would be making up for this when the Commission made Malta pay for not complying.
Chris Cardona (MLP) said it was time for a new direction, even for the government. Analysing the budget estimates, one found that funds were not a problem, although neither were they astronomical. The Malta Information Technology Agency (Mita) had been allocated €5.3 million, a substantial amount which should allow for easy operation. It was true that the Nationalist government had introduced computers and an ICT infrastructure, but the question was where these would be in 20 years' time.
The aims were to build the infrastructures for future generations, to reduce the digital divide, education in ICT, digital content, e-government and e-commerce and attracting the ICT industry to Malta. On these points the government and the opposition were in agreement; the problem was the strategy used.
Dr Cardona said there should be objective periodic assessment, as against reviews about the ministry which were carried out by the ministry itself. Documents from various ministries gave the impression of a travel brochure instead of a business plan with clear plans and deliberate structures.
Were organisations such as Mita functioning as they should? Malta Enterprise had a lack of resources to help local companies operate in this sector, and in fact some had had to leave Malta. In general the tendency was to have good but ambitious objectives, without detailed planning or assessment of costs involved.
The Malta Standards Authority was meant to assure services of high quality and the sector had seen great improvements. Dr Cardona praised the fact that foreign companies made use of its services, which was good for the economy. He also referred to market surveillance, which had been imposed by the EU and meant that the consumer and competition division had had to set up a market surveillance directive.
The €200,000 addition to funds allocated this year was important, considering the lack of resources. EU countries, even Cyprus, had a separate standards authority for each sector, with at least one expert in each. This was not what he was suggesting, but more experts were needed to deal with demands.
Malta was not doing brilliantly in ICT performance indicators, but these issues could be discussed and solved.
No development had been seen since the start of investigation into the Mitts scandal. The minister was not convincing, and this was why the opposition demanded an investigation. The people were worried because the government kept operating in the same way. It had now been revealed that the PN secretary general had requested ministries to send the party confidential information about citizens approaching them with complaints. Was this the same secretary general who had spoken so much of data protection?
Concluding, Dr Cardona said that it had become known that the Director of Mcast was also on the board of Mitts. He questioned whether this was a conflict of interest. Conveniently cases could never be discussed, because they were always under investigation.
Charles Buhagiar (MLP) said a number of infrastructural projects, which gained significant importance in the present-day scenario, were still pending, including Dock No. 1, the Cospicua underground car park, the Ta' Qali crafts village, the Pace Grasso Ground development at Paola and the National Opera House site.
He said the vertical connections project, which aimed to connect the waterfront with the centre of Valletta, was important but Minister Gatt said that a re-evaluation was necessary because he did not like what his predecessor had proposed.
Mr Buhagiar said a number of pedestrian areas in Valletta needed to be looked into. Vehicles were damaging paved streets and pavements.
The aims of traffic management in Valletta through the CVA had not been met. Traffic congestion was still rampant. He noted that the revenue from the CVA in the budget was double that of last year. Did this mean the charge was going to double, or that a charge was going to be introduced for the park-and-ride facility?
Joe Debono Grech (MLP) said that history showed that it had always been Labour governments that developed the ports, especially the Grand Harbour. It had organised port workers and guaranteed their wages. The public should be grateful to the port and dockyard workers for their contribution to the economy.
He referred to Mġarr Harbour, the Freeport projects and the main runway at MIA, and said that it was through the assistance of Libya and China that such major projects had been started.
While the PN criticised Labour for having set up various corps, it was now introducing a similar association for long-term unemployed but it was being called by a different name.
Mr Debono Grech said port and Freeport workers had been separated at work. Mooring men were separated from the pilots, and the MMA was dragging its feet to approve a cooperative to enable them to take out insurance.
The Cargo Handling had been disbanded on the pretext that it was a monopoly in the hands of the GWU, but had simply passed to another contractor and remained a monopoly just the same.
The country had ground to a halt. Labour had left Lm500 million in the national coffers, Lm29 million in the posterity fund and Lm35 million in the contingency fund, but the PN never looked ahead.
Helena Dalli (MLP) said an analysis of what the government promised and what it really invested in capital projects showed deficiencies, a clear sign that public investment was falling behind not only in quality but also in quantity.
Although the shipyard privatisation had been known about since last year, the budget had not provided funds for the early retirement scheme.
The government had said last February that the 'yard had a future and there was no scope for downsizing. She read a letter which the Prime Minister had sent to 'yard workers before the elections.
She asked why the government had never investigated what had really happened to the Fairmount contract which, through mismanagement, had led to the 'yard losing millions of liri. The country was now facing a deficit in tradesmen.
Was it true that Air Malta was in the red and had a liquidity problem? Was it true that experts were suggesting the route network could well be served by a much smaller fleet and the government was considering an exercise similar to the 'yards scenario in 2010.
The government had denied the perception that corruption in Malta had increased but, she said, this was because of overruns and time lags in the completion projects.
Marlene Pullicino (MLP) recalled that the PN had called the Labour government's energy measures in 1997 as anti-social. Similarly, the present tariffs hikes - which were not mentioned in the electoral programme or in the present budget - were also a burden on consumers, whose standard of living was being threatened.
The consumer expected the highest quality of service from both Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation. Dr Pullicino appealed to the government to let foreign entities carry out periodic tests to check the minerals in the water table, especially near landfills. The Mġarr pumping station had been pumping water into the draining system since January because nobody wanted to take responsibility for contamination.
Enemalta's unaccounted-for losses included lamp-posts which were not metered. The corporation's credibility was at its lowest ebb.
Enemalta, the WSC and the Drainage Section needed heavy investment in a staged process. Likewise, investment in alternative energy sources should have been started years ago. The government knew that the offshore wind-farm could well be already outdated.
Concluding, Dr Pullicino appealed to the government to work together for the benefit of the people. With serious plans, the opposition wanted to incentivise the people to use alternative energy.