Commuters could one day be paid to use public transport, but first, Malta needed to work towards having free public transport for all, Joseph Muscat told party supporters in Senglea on Sunday.
Speaking at the Labour-stronghold 20 days ahead of the local council and European Parliament elections, Dr Muscat said the solution for traffic in Malta was not an underground system, as the PN had proposed.
The solution was a vision, something that the PN lacked, he added.
The government was looking into the feasibility of an underground system, however, this project, which would cost hundreds of millions and take a quarter of a century to complete, needed critical mass.
This meant that it either required more people in the country, or a tax subsidy. However Opposition leader Adrian Delia had already accused Labour of filling Malta with foreigners and that people were financially burdened, Dr Muscat said.
The Prime Minister also questioned how the Opposition was raising concern over the disposal of excavated rock from the proposed Gozo-Malta tunnel, but wanted to excavate the whole island for an underground system.
When you have no vision, you end caught up in contradictions, Dr Muscat said.
He reiterated his disbelief at the Opposition’s change of heart over the Gozo-Malta link, after backing the project in Parliament in April.
However, this went beyond the tunnel issue. Credibility was the biggest currency in politics, he said.
“It takes nothing to promise something... the work is all in the implementation. We promised free childcare, increased pensions, free transport, lower bills, more benefits and more work, and we gave you all of it,” he said to chants of “Joseph, Joseph”.
A PN government had increased value added tax, national insurance contribution and fuel prices, and introduced an electricity surcharge, all unannounced, Dr Muscat said.
Traffic management
The Opposition was currently complaining about traffic, but what did it plan to do about it, he asked.
Labour’s plans included a seven-year infrastructural roadwork project and free public transport for all residents in the future.
“At the moment, public transport is free for youths, pensioners and disabled people. I want a situation where people get paid for using public transport.
“Rather than making cars more expensive, we would compensate people if they used public transport. One step at a time, and to do this we need to continue recording a surplus.”
The government was also working on setting a date from when all imported cars were electric, he added.
Credibility issues
Dr Muscat insisted that credibility was an asset for the Labour government.
“What we have given pensioners is nothing compared to how much more we will be giving them. We will be able to do this because we have credibility.”
The PN did not even have the right facts in hand, he said.
While the PN had said that the number of teachers had decreased, data showed that people in the profession actually increased from 14,000 in 2013 to 17,500 this year.
The Opposition had also said that thefts had increased in Sliema. However, while there were 75 thefts from houses in Sliema in 2012, last year there were 55, he added.
In his last appeal to voters, Dr Muscat urged "genuine PN voters" to vote for Labour candidates to show their disgust at their party’s disrespect by not fielding enough candidates in the locality.