Brussels sprouts (2)

Are we all singing from the same hymn sheet? Have we lost the plot? It was not my intention to comment further on the purchase of Dar Malta in Brussels but what was said on various TV discussion programmes and the evidence given before the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has not provided me with a convincing explanation.

With all due respect, I think that our leaders are once again missing the wood for the trees. I contend that it is not a question of whether 25, Rue Archimede is cheaper or more expensive than 1, Rue Archimede or whether it is good value or not. The question I asked and keep asking is, did we have a viable alternative? Was it necessary to spend Lm9 million? Could we not have spent several million liri less for a building of the required size but perhaps not in such a prime site location? Although I know little about property, I am aware that in the case of retail property it is nearly always a question of location, location, location. This case however is totally different.

Asking Albert Mizzi, or anyone else for that matter, whether the selected building is value for money or not is also irrelevant. Mr Mizzi's brief could and should have been very different.

If I decide to purchase property, I will first set myself some budgetary parameters. It is not much use viewing property that I cannot afford. A friend of mine recently told me of a very good deal on a property that, for special reasons, was being offered at a significant discount. I declined the offer. That is not to say that it did not represent good value for money. It did. It was just a matter of my not being able to afford it.

According to Richard Cachia Caruana's calculations, Malta needed 2,300 square metres of floor space. After making an allowance of 20 per cent for growth, the ideal size would thus have been predetermined in the region of 3,000 square metres. Experts in Brussels (as well as a commonly used search engine on the internet called Google) would have indicated the price range of properties in the various areas of the city. If the going rate for ready-to-move-into offices in a given area was, for argument's sake, €4,000 per square metre (and I know that these exist) then the government could have asked its team to come up with the best offer in the €12 million or Lm5 million bracket. Mr Mizzi's negotiating skills should have then been used to try to obtain an even better deal from the vendors once the property was identified.

So as to pre-empt the counter argument that one cannot purchase property at these prices within spitting distance from the EU headquarters, let me say that such "inconvenience" could have easily been overcome by the introduction of a mini-van shuttle service. Had this strategy been adopted the country would have made savings running into millions of liri.

This approach is in fact now being adopted by the Prime Minister for the refurbishment of Dar Malta. The expenditure has been capped at Lm2.5 million. He is rightly not asking for estimates but is instructing the architects/designers to come up with proposals that do not exceed this figure. Why wasn't it used in the purchase of the building?

I do not wish to unduly politicise this issue. The politicians can do that ably enough. I am not criticising for criticism's sake. I am, however, trying to push for a much more cautious approach when spending taxpayers' money. Let us not keep playing ball in the league where the standards (in this case the costs) are way beyond our means. As the saying goes, we must learn to cut our coat according to our cloth.

But we should not despair. It seems that we have a way out of all this! I understand that Mr Mizzi has offered to buy the building for the same price that government paid for it. If I were in Dr Gonzi's shoes, I would immediately take up his offer. In this way, the Prime Minister will seek and find less expensive (finished) premises, move the Malta mission out of its rented offices much quicker, thus saving present rent, and save the country millions of liri of capital expenditure in the process. If that is not a win-win situation, what is?