The opposition yesterday accused the government of lacking a national energy plan or campaign on energy-saving measures. The country did not have a holistic plan.
Speaking during the debate on the votes of the Ministry of Resources and Rural Affairs, opposition spokesman on the environment Leo Brincat said the environmental measures announced in the budget were simply an exercise to show the world and the EU that the government was doing something. However, Malta was between eight and 10 years too late in this sector.
He asked whether the government had carried out an impact assessment on the measures it had taken regarding emissions. Was the government more interested in netting revenue from the measures or did it really want to protect the environment?
He said it was of little use to offer assistance on solar and photovoltaic panels when this offer was limited to a number of families. The Malta Resources Authority was still assessing some 10,000 applications introduced on the energy-saving scheme on domestic appliances.
Mr Brincat said there must be an on-going educational campaign on energy saving until there was a culture change. Malta had missed the bus in the energy sector.
There was lack of strategic planning. Even where wind farms were concerned, the initial reports suggested that it was not feasible to have them at Is-Sikka l-Bajda, off Mellieħa. The government must make public all the reports that had been drawn up since 2005. And before taking any decision, the government should have embarked on wind-data-measuring statements. Gozo is a better option for wind generation.
If the project was to be undertaken by private enterprise, then the consumer price must be decided beforehand.
Malta was taking more corrective measures than proactive ones when it came to natural resources. Mr Brincat also called for a better public transport service which respected commuters.
Turning to the vehicle circulation tax, he asked whether the government wanted to favour certain importers. Why was the emphasis placed on private cars and not buses?
The government had failed in its measures introduced two years ago on bio-degradable plastic bags and the new eco-tax did not differentiate between the different bags.
Minister Pullicino regarded waste management as the opposition's Achilles' heel. Mr Brincat assured the minister of his full cooperation once he (the minister) consulted the opposition on any measures he contemplated.
He criticised the way the incinerator at the abattoir was being run and said nobody seemed to know who is responsible for it. There were so many teething troubles that the government felt the need to call in an Austrian company to try to find a solution to the problems.
On climate change, Mr Brincat said that both Labour MP Gavin Gulia and himself had encouraged the government to make citizens aware that the problem was today's, and could not be dealt with tomorrow. However, instead of combating the global problem, the measures introduced were compounding the problem. The ball was in the government's court, but the opposition was ready to help.
He suggested Malta should opt for an energy mix, of various forms such as biomass, biogas and wind energy. It was important not to have all one's eggs in one basket. Systems that were successful in neighbouring countries could be adopted safely.
Earlier, Labour MP Joe Mizzi said the government lagged behind all other Mediterranean countries when it came to investment in alternative energy. If the government were serious it should have followed other countries and invested in solar-thermal energy.
The government also ignored the problem of water table pollution through the excessive number of boreholes. He asked whether the Ministry ever had an integrated national water plan. Rainwater was being lost because of extensive urbanisation, and instead of investing in ways to collect it before it finds its way to the sea, the government invested in unwanted and expensive sewage treatment plants.
With other EU directives coming into place, Mr Mizzi predicted that the government would soon have to revise tariffs besides the recently-introduced utility tariffs. If the government ignored its social responsibility as it had done in the case of the utility tariffs, the public would be irresponsibly burdened yet again.
Charles Buhagiar (Lab.) said it was the Malta Resources Authority's responsibility to ensure the market price of water and electricity was fair. He asked what kind of role, if any, did the authority play in the introduction of the new utility tariffs.
The authority had an increasingly important role to play and needed adequate funding to enable it to fulfil that role. It had other functions, such as ensuring integrated management of the water sector. Malta did not have a national water management policy.
Suddenly the government has realised that there were problems with the water from boreholes, and that it was time to do something about it. In 1997, the government had regulated that whoever was caught drilling boreholes illegally would face serious consequences. That led many to register their boreholes. But under Nationalist governments, there had been no enforcement, and now it was too late as the harm has been done.
A storm water master plan had been badly needed for many years but 11 years later, it is still in its final phase but when the Prime Minister put a list of EU-approved projects on the Table of the House on Wednesday, this plan was nowhere to be seen. The water treatment plant location had also not been chosen carefully as the distribution system would cost a lot of money. The opposition would have set up two smaller plants, rather than the one big one.
The Burmarrad Valley project was meant to clean and clear the valley to avoid flooding. This work has been pending since 2004 and was another example of projects, promised year after year, but never completed. It was important that all funds, both EU and local, be spent carefully.
He asked about the promenades of Għadira, Qajjenza and Wied iż-Żurrieq and the project of Xatt is-Sajjieda at Marsaxlokk which had been in the pipeline for 10 years. Even projects which were done were not carried out properly, such as the one in Paceville, which already needed redoing.
For years there was the promise of restoration of fortifications such as Vittoriosa, Mdina, Valletta and Cittadella in Gozo, at a cost €30 million. In July last year, the Prime Minister said a bulk of the EU funds would be allocated to this project, and promised tenders would be issued soon. The cost rose to €36 million during the budget but now it escalated to €39 million. When was work going to start?
The work on the Mdina bastions had finally begun, and it had to continue as the fortifications were crumbling. Opposition spokesman on agriculture and fisheries, Joe Sammut asked the minister to confirm rumours that the tuna season would be closed for a longer period next year.
He quoted figures which showed that the income of Maltese farmers had slipped last year while the average income of EU farmers went up by 4.7 per cent.
Natural resources, especially soil, should be given better attention and a better approach be undertaken over the use of pesticides. The government should mount a campaign to encourage organic farming.
Mepa must introduce friendly policies to encourage water harvesting.
The government farm at Għammieri had lost much of its resources and a new impetus injected. There was a lack of training in agro-tourism and the lack of an agricultural policy, even if the government was talking of a seven-year programme covering the period 2007- 2013.
Dr Sammut said the time had come for a national policy because on it depended the livelihood of the island. Much needed to be done to eradicate the stigma against farmers and fishermen as theirs was as noble a profession as any other.
Farmers must be alert on which products they chose to grow. In the case of olives and vines, the right product which rendered a good income must be chosen.
They must strive to offer the best quality local product which had an advantage over frozen vegetables or imported produce. Better branding was called for but management in the agricultural sector was lacking. One must ensure that imported produce must not be of an inferior quality and then sold at the same price as local vegetables.
Training and education must lead to better management of the product. The Malta Agricultural College, introduced under Labour, used to cover both theoretical and practical aspects of courses but the present institute was based on the British model which was not compatible to Malta.
On horticulture, Dr Sammut said that, here again, better quality-products must be produced through the best agricultural practices on soil sterilisation and conservation. Steam sterilisation would be better, apart from saving energy if it is produced through the use of photo-voltaic panels.
Better use must be made of animal manure and steps taken to have a bio-gas plant, thus eliminating nitrates. However, state aid was needed as farmers could not sustain such a capital outlay.
On water irrigation, Dr Sammut said farmers' boreholes must not be closed unrealistically as farmers cannot be put on the same level as those that use natural water for capricious aims.
Second-class water must be upgraded and polished to avoid health hazards and taken to areas where water was out of reach. More sewage must be treated for use in agriculture, as is happening in Gozo. Such water was very good for citrus trees.
Apiculture was not being given the importance it deserves. The industry was concentrated mostly in the north when there were also vast areas of thyme in the south which were not being exploited.
One expected big challenges when fresh milk quotas would be eliminated. The transport of meat from the abattoir to butcher shops must be re-organised. In five years' time, such challenges would be more pronounced and better management of herds was needed.
Cheeslets (ġbejniet) must be given the importance they deserve.
The pork industry was feeling the impact of the energy tariffs and the government ought to stop dragging its feet over the payment of subsidies due. Likewise, the government owes monies to poultry producers.
Concluding, Dr Sammut said one must be careful not to contaminate the sea around fish farms.
Gozo Channel's monopoly was likely on the way out as a call for tenders to companies interested in operating the service was to be issued by the government soon, Labour Gozo spokesman Anton Refalo said.
Speaking during the budget debate on Gozo, Dr Refalo said the decision follows after the European Commission took the government to the European Court last June because in April 2004, a few days before Malta became an EU member, it signed a contract with Gozo Channel guaranteeing its monopoly.
Although liberalisation was positive, Dr Refalo said that even though it knew what was happening, the government went ahead and employed 40 people with the company just before the election.
Dr Refalo noted that Gozo Channel was paying the government €1 million plus VAT to use the Mġarr terminal. It also had to insure the quays and to see to their maintenance and repair.
This, he said, was the real reason to why fares were increased and because of this fewer Maltese were visiting Gozo.
Referring to the opening of a centre in Gozo by HSBC which saw the bank transferring its Gozitan employees to the sister island, Dr Refalo said that although this was a very positive move, no new jobs for Gozitans were created.
The Gozitan economy needed continuous assistance to create productive work. The income of Gozitan workers in the private sector was lower than that of their Maltese counterparts, so much so that Gozitan workers were opting for employment in Malta. Dr Refalo noted that a substantial part of the capital expenditure allocated for Gozo remained unspent each year. Over the past years, €23 million which had been allocated for the island's social and economic development had not been spent.
Moreover, a lot of promised projects remained undelivered or were delivered late. For next year, the government was promising a reform of Gozo's public transport system and he hoped this would be implemented for the island's sake.
It was something Labour had proposed in its plan for the development of Gozo, launched in 2006.
Unemployment in Gozo has been on the rise for the past 10 years and this year it was going to be the highest in many years.
Industrialists were not being paid in full the subsidies they were due for transport. He referred to the promise made two years ago that a Gozo directorate would be set up within Malta Enterprise and said that not only had this not yet been set up, but there were still no funds for it.
Gozo, he said, deserved better. It deserved what Labour was proposing. On air transport between the two islands, Dr Refalo said the helicopter service had stopped because the government did not want to continue subsidising it. A report by a committee which had been set up to study options once the service stopped had stated that accessibility could not be ensured unless the ferry service was accompanied by air transport.
It had said that a service between the airport and Gozo was crucial to remove physical barriers and that this could only be operated with the introduction of a subsidy and a public service obligation contract.
A year had since passed since but the sister island still had no helicopter service. Meetings were held with companies which showed an interest in operating in this sector. But in a recent reply, the minister said there were no immediate plans to expand the current airlinks. A seaplane currently provided connections from Valletta to Mġarr and vice-versa.
Dr Refalo asked if the operation of a training hotel in Gozo was still on the books and asked why the minister had said recently that this would cost €1.9 million when €1.36 had previously been quoted. What were the additional funds being spent on?
He also spoke on EU programmes saying that although the government had promised that Gozo would get 10 per cent of the funds, next year it would only get €3 million out of €93 million.
When Malta was negotiating membership with the EU, he said, it had hoped that its GDP would get closer to that of Malta but instead of recovering, it had continued to deteriorate.