A mystery shopping exercise to assess the delivery of government services would be undertaken shortly, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told Parliament yesterday.
The exercise should complement other initiatives designed to reduce bureaucracy. However, these should not be confused with slackness in the application of the rules, he warned.
The first one-stop shops will be opening in Paola, Birkirkara and Qawra and will deliver 250 different services to the public easing the pressure on the various departments while serving the people better.
A recent White Paper contained proposals aimed at rationalising the 77,000 inspections carried out by 22 public entities every year, Dr Muscat said during the debate on the Office of the Prime Minister’s budget.
The need to address bureaucracy was raised by Anthony Agius Decelis (PL) and Marlene Farrugia (PL).
They agreed that bureaucracy hampered economic activity and discouraged the private initiative. Dr Farrugia warned against the removal of proper checks and balances when attacking bureaucracy. Mepa and the environment featured in the interventions made by Dr Farrugia, Joe Sammut (PL), Anthony Bezzina (PN) and Ryan Callus (PN).
Dr Sammut felt land reclamation should be considered in a serious way, not only as a means of land expansion but also for better communication and food production.
The criticism being levelled at Mepa was identical to that she used to make under the previous administration, Dr Farrugia said. She said the government, now in mid-legislature, had to turn on a new page and ensure that Mepa employees were loyal to the country and not to any political party.
Mepa’s agriculture policies should serve as a tool for genuine farmers and not speculators. These were also suffering because of bureaucracy at several departments, such as the veterinary agencies, Mr Bezzina said.
Mr Callus accused the government of surreptitiously instructing Mepa to include land at Mrieħel for high rise development after the public consultation process closed.
Mepa employees were disheartened because of arbitrary human resource deployment, where transfers were the order of the day. In the Planning Directorate alone, 100 transfers had been given, moving roughly two-thirds of the staff there, Mr Callus said.
Planning Parliamentary Secretary Dr Michael Falzon wrapped up the debate, saying that the general perception that Mepa was an unmanageable monster was one of the major downfalls of the previous administration.
The present administration addressed the issues at Mepa and, on several points of policy, there was convergence between the government and the Opposition.
The approval rate of decisions by MEPA was good and DNO approvals (developments that do not need a full application) increased by 20 per cent. Also, 56 EU projects were approved.
Dr Falzon said the enforcement section had been beefed up by the employment of eight people and complaints were being addressed at a rapid pace.