Dock 1 development brief not enough to attract private interest - opposition

The proposals made in the development brief for the Dock 1 area of Cospicua were not enough to attract private sector interest, opposition urban development spokesman Charles Buhagiar told parliament yesterday.

He said the brief, published last week, was far too restrictive where it discussed activities by the private sector.

Mr Buhagiar was speaking when parliament discussed the financial estimates of the Ministry for Roads and Urban Development.

Mr Buhagiar also referred to government proposals to build a new parliament on the site of the old opera house in Valletta. He said there was no doubt that the current parliament left much to be desired, but given the country's financial situation, it made no sense to take such a project in hand now. Indeed, after the public outcry against the proposal, the government was backtracking.

Mr Buhagiar insisted that the government should stop dragging its feet on developing Fort St Elmo, a site which occupied a fifth of the land area in Valletta. For a start, a new site should be found for the carnival enthusiasts who currently operated from the fort. And no more time should be wasted on new studies since a development brief had already been issued under the Labour government.

With most of the major capital projects linked in some way to Grand Harbour, there was need for a holistic plan for the area. This plan should include the Connections project, conceived under the Labour government, to facilitate transport to Valletta across from the Sliema and Cottonera areas. He could not understand how such a project could have been shelved.

Earlier in his speech, Mr Buhagiar referred to the Cottonera project and asked if the Monitoring Board was seeing that the project was being implemented according to contract conditions. Part of the project such as the work on the Macina had not yet started.

And what about the hotel which had to be built in the area? Why had it not yet been built?

Had the utility services for the area been upgraded as promised by the government? Why had the government refused an offer by the developers to landscape the area at their own expense?

There was then the car park problem. This was the only project in Malta which was given a permit before a traffic impact assessment was held. The government had made the car park its responsibility. There could not be a project in Cottonera without a car park. When would the work start? The government needed to understand the urgency of the matter.

Mr Buhagiar said the rebuilding of the Barrakka lift was needed but the way the government had issued its call for tenders was unattractive for private investors. The government needed to remedy the situation.

Also important was the White Rocks project but work on its re-activation had been going on and off for years. Why had it not been given priority?

The Ta' Qali crafts village project had to start at the beginning of this year, but that had not happened.

The Chambray and Mnajdra upgrading projects were also supposed to be in full swing this year, but lack of planning meant everything was stagnant.

The only three projects which were progressing were those launched by a Labour government - the Cottonera, Manoel Island and the Cruise Liner Terminal projects.

The call for tenders for the Dock One project was to have been issued in September but it was not. The development brief had now been issued, but a lot of what was being proposed did not make much sense. Restoration work alone would cost some Lm1 million and unless the private sector saw potential of a minimum income of Lm2 million, it would not go in for it. The project as proposed was too restrictive in the activities which the private sector could undertake.

Mr Buhagiar wondered how anyone expected the government to complete the Park and Ride scheme in Floriana when only Lm10,000 had been allocated to more the current occupants of the area to an alternative location.

Turning to the roads sector, Mr Buhagiar said that six years on, the Mtarfa road had still not been completed but the minister had now said it would be given priority.

The Burmarrad road, started in 2000 and declared completed three-and-a-half years later at a cost of almost Lm1.5 million, was not really complete because it should also have covered the stretch between Targa Gap and Wied il-Qlejgha, which had still not been done.

The road between Salina and Iklin should have taken 12 months, but it had taken much longer and ended up badly creating congestion with the road to Naxxar. A road was as good as its junction, so this project was really a failure.

The Mosta ringroad was another area of great problems, characterised by widespread expropriations, change of plans and residents' protests. This work, which started in January 2001, should have been completed in 12 months, but it was still unfinished and it was going to cost three times the original estimate.

In July Mr Mugliett had gone on record saying that the government was committed to better residential roads because they had a direct impact on standard of living. The government had made several agreements on road works with local councils for which the government was to fork out Lm75,000. But only three months later, in October, Mr Mugliett said that the scheme with the local councils was being stopped because of problems related to budgeting, quality control and programming.

The Transport Authority said that in 2004 the government had built 3.3 km of arterial roads while local councils had built 3.3 km of residential roads. This meant that the local councils had been just as efficient as the government.

Mr Buhagiar said road works funded by the Italian financial protocol had not all gone to the cheapest bidders, because the government said the contractor could not be expected to cope with all the work. The tenders actually accepted were costlier by millions of liri. In this case the government should at least have asked the second lowest bidders to reduce their tenders.

Mr Buhagiar said he was not making any allegations but Minister Jesmond Mugliett's partner architect Robert Sant of Design Resources, which was representing the firm Ergon, had been awarded the most expensive parts of the road works. At face value, such matters did not look right.

He stressed the importance that roads works being done under the Italian protocol were finished on time or the funds would be lost.

Labour MP Joseph Sammut said that this government had abandoned work on residential roads. Certain areas, such as Bubaqra and the Millieri area of Ghaxaq, had been developed in the past 20 years but the roads there did not look like roads at all.

The Labour MP called for better roads to industrial sites. He also insisted that Malta should have a more efficient public transport system to reduce the use of private cars.

The single lane system being developed in arterial roads did not make sense as did not make sense the installation of traffic lights on main roads. Rather than traffic lights, there should be subways.

Bus lanes were also snarling up traffic, as in Marsa.

Malta needed to consider other means of transport, such as an underground system.

The private sector, Mr Sammut said, was being allowed to exploit the parking problem, for why should it cost Lm3 to park a car at a private car park? There should be a limit, he stressed.

Labour MP Joseph Cuschieri said the roads and the infrastructure had an affect on the tourism sector.

All tourists coming to Malta surely entered City Gate and went to Republic Street, where they were greeted with a car park at Freedom Square. So much for first impressions!

It was shameful that there was not one blue flag beach in Malta, an island.

The seabed, he said, was being destroyed with fish farms, projects had fallen behind or were shelved and most of the country's foreshore was occupied when this was supposed to be public.

The projects at Mgarr-Cirkewwa, Fort St Angelo, the Chadwick Lakes, the Cruise Liner Terminal and the Crafts Village seemed to be never ending. Serious management was needed for the country, Mr Cuschieri said.

Labour MP Stefan Buontempo asked how long were the people to be kept waiting for the car park at Cottonera to be developed.

He asked what had become of the plans for parking at Castille and pointed out that no applications had been submitted for the development of the Barrakka lift.

Mr Buontempo said that there were in Malta 30,000 vacant houses, some 23,000 of which were vacant year round. If these cost an average of Lm40,000 per unit, they meant a dead capital of Lm1 billion.

Owners, Mr Buontempo said, should not be strangled with taxes but should be given an incentive to sell. He pointed out that Labour were against requisition of properties and a Labour governemnt would not reintroduce the requisition law.