Utility tariffs surcharge down from 194 to 185 percent

The government’s revised proposals for the water and electricity tariffs will mean an increase in surcharge to 185, instead of 197 percent, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this afternoon.

Closing the party’s general conference which approved a new statute for the party, Dr Muscat said the bills were being increased not because of the cost of oil but to make good for the squandering and inefficiency of this government. The increases were aimed at recollecting from the people what had been given in children’s allowance and income tax reductions before the elections.

The government, Dr Muscat said, had to say in detail why the bills were being increased. Had a decision been taken to buy half next year’s supply of oil at an average price of $120 per barrel when for the price of oil for the past month and a half was an average $55 a barrel? Had a decision been taken to dissolve the fuel procurement advisory committee which had changed the way decisions were taken?

The Labour leader spoke on the proposed Għadira road project saying the government had the option building an Irish bridge, a road on a road, instead of what it was proposing. This would upgrade the current road and serve to prevent the erosion of the bay. This option had already been proposed by experts. Why was it not being mentioned?

He also spoke on the proposal for an extension to St John’s CoCathedral Museum saying that he did not believe that underground was the best place to store tapestries. A lot more was being spent on this than for the rehabilitation of the bastions, which were falling down.

Was there conflict of interest between those taking decisions on where money should be spent and by those who were deciding how money should be spent? These, he said, were questions which should be answered.

Labour’s alternative was to do as was done in any other European city and use other buildings including in areas which needed regeneration to attract more tourists to these sites.

Dr Muscat referred to the financial crisis and said that in such matters Malta was always affected a few months later.

Labour was ready to put partisan politics aside and work with the government to prepare for this crisis. The government should also see how to get the best out of the stimulus package being proposed by the EU.

Dr Muscat noted that last year the government only used 60 per cent of the funds it would get from the EU. This year it would only be using 16 per cent. Because of government’s incompetence Malta would be paying the EU more than it was getting.

On the recent court judgment which won a patient over €74,000 after he had to pay for a life saving operation in Pisa, Dr Muscat said that Labour had been appealing to the authorities for a policy on the treatment of Maltese patients needing operations abroad for at least three years.

This compensation decision was a very important precedent which the country needed to think about.

The policy, he said, should also state the maximum waiting time for the different operations and if the state was not capable of providing the operations within that timeframe, it should make alternative arrangements. Although operations cost money, so did being on a waiting list.