A parliamentary committee tasked with establishing the facts about the issue of black dust over Fgura and other localities will be chaired by the Speaker and include two members from both sides of the House, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told Parliament yesterday. He said that it was hoped that the relevant motion would be presented to the House next week.

Winding up the Budget debate, Dr Gonzi also announced that former minister Jesmond Mugliett had agreed to chair the new Parliamentary Planning and Environment Committees, provided for under the new Mepa Act. He hoped that the new committee would achieve cross party consensus on the most important party policies.

Dr Gonzi said he was surprised there were still people who seemed to think that Mepa should not charge tariffs that adequately paid for services rendered. Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat had been speaking about the need of a key change in mentalities from direct taxes to work and consumption, but had then forgotten all about it during the debate.

Next year would go down in history as the year of change in public transport, with better service all around and with a fleet answering to the environmental challenge up to Euro-5 standards.

The differential tariffs had been discussed with the EU and were very logical. They would make the difference between fares paid by taxpaying residents and those paid by non-contributing visitors, but the opposition was turning something positive into a negative. The financing of the system must come from somewhere, but without that difference it would have to be the Maltese client who will have to pay up.

If the government got the public transport reform right after 30 years of trying it would have given present and future generations every incentive to use it instead of individual private transport. There would be teething problems, but eventually Malta would have done something great.

Dr Gonzi said that after having accepted that the Auditor General analyse the operations of Arms Ltd, it was still not understandable why the opposition would be voting against the government-proposed amendment to its motion.

The government could not agree with the part of the opposition’s motion regarding smart meters. It agreed that things must be as transparent as possible, and that the issue of confidentiality clauses in agreements should be discussed because it was not a question of partisan politics, although international bidders’ reticence to disclose certain details could also be understood.

With maturity a solution should be achievable, but the Prime Minister made it clear that with regard to the scope of work and level of service there should be no confidentiality. He had agreed with Finance Minister Tonio Fenech that all information that did not have to be confidential must be disclosed for the people’s satisfaction.

Dr Gonzi thanked the opposition and trade unions for their contribution to the very important issue of Air Malta. Solutions must be found together to make the national airline viable and sustainable, and help it to continue to contribute to the economy through tourism, cargo handling and so many other aspects. It must not be made into a political football, and the country wanted all sectors to work together to save the country and give it a good future.

Since the elections the government had succeeded to reform the rents law with the opposition’s cooperation, renewed local councils, resolved the dockyards problem and concluded the procedural part of the reform of Mepa so that the mechanism could now start to function.

Among the reforms at the Office of the Prime Minister there would be a high-level central unit to focus on wide-ranging strategies in the medium and long terms. The unit would be set up by the end of this year, and the fruit of its work could be expected in the years to come. But it would be wrong to construe it as a political ploy or an election gimmick.

Dr Gonzi paid tribute to the Armed Forces of Malta for their loyalty, dedication and professionalism. Soldiers serving on a Dutch ship off Somalia had been recognised as among the best and decorated by the Dutch government. The AFM had reaped other success stories in Georgia, in the UK head office coordinating operations off Somalia, and in Frontex.

The government had allocated record finances of €83 million for new patrol boats, a new communications system and a new surveillance aircraft, among other items. The EU would finance 75 per cent of the investments, with the remaining 25 per cent coming from the government. The pressure of illegal immigration had indeed dropped, but the AFM’s sea patrols still deserved recognition.

The Planning and Priorities Coordination Department (PPCD) was very important for coordination at all levels, including EU-funded projects worth many millions of euros. There were a total of 57 projects part-funded by the ERDF involving €267 million. To date Malta was among the best performers in availing itself of all available EU funds.

Thanking the civil service for its help in achieving government objectives, Dr Gonzi said the government’s main aim would remain to be competitive for the creation of jobs. This explained the record outlay on education.

While other governments were voting in austerity measures, Malta was celebrating success stories in several sectors, he concluded.