Italian contractors interested in Malta road works

A number of Italian contractors have shown interest in carrying out major road works in Malta which will be financed through the Italian financial protocol, Transport and Communications Minister Censu Galea said yesterday.

He said in parliament that funds from the Italian financial protocol had been allocated for road works even before the protocol was actually ratified. A call for expressions of interest in the works was issued and several contractors, mainly Italians, had expressed an interest. The tendering process would close on January 15, by which time 12 tenderers were expected to submit bids.

The funds from the Italian protocol would be split into three tenders for the building or re-building of roads starting from Targa Gap and continuing to Qlejja, Mtarfa, Rabat, Mgarr, Attard, Sliema, Zebbug roundabout, Qormi roundabout, Mdina Road, Siggiewi and the airport.

The EU had also accepted to include a section of Maltese roads in its network and 96 kilometers of road in Malta were eligible for EU funds. They would be spent on the road leading from the Freeport to Hal Far, Marsa, Regional Road, Bahar ic-Caghaq, Mellieha, Cirkewwa and on to Mgarr and Xewkija industrial estate.

A call for tenders for these works was issued a few months ago and contracts would be awarded shortly.

Mr Galea was speaking during the budget debate on the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

He said that now that the standard of road works had been considerably improved - although more remained to be done - a strong accent would be placed on having contracts completed on time.

Contractors needed to be more serious in the way they submitted bids and carried out contracts. The authorities would be ever vigilant on quality standards. And contractors had to start being classified according to their capabilities and record.

At the beginning of his speech Mr Galea paid tribute to the work of the Department of Civil Aviation, particularly in the way it had managed to ensure that aviation services in Malta were up to international standards.

He also highlighted the work of the Malta Communications Authority, about which, he noted, the opposition had not said anything. The liberalisation of the telecommunications sector had been successfully carried out. From a situation where it was even difficult to get a fixed line telephone, one now had a situation where there were some 300,000 mobile phones. But this was only the beginning of a bigger revolution which would see communications grow in a way which would be unrecognisable from the present.

Internet services had also grown at a very fast pace and Malta was now even ahead of some EU countries. The use of Voice over IP services had exploded from zero in January to 120 million minutes in June and there was further strong growth by September when statistics showed a 59 per cent increase.

The authority was now drawing up policies on digital television services, another development which could change people's lives.

The postal service would also continue to undergo change, necessitated by the increased competition from internet services.

Mr Galea said there was no doubt that harbour work practices needed to be changed and modernised. Indeed, the biggest change the harbours needed was not in the provision of new equipment or longer quays, but efficient work practices. Talks had been going on for a long time particularly with the GWU.

This government, Mr Galea said, had continuously committed itself to increasing the income of port workers and they in fact could see a substantial increase in their income in the past 16 to 17 years. This was because of a large increase in port activity in Malta, through which workers in the sector had benefited.

Mr Galea said that Grand Harbour was going through change, with its activities increasingly focused on cruise lining. Some 450 cruise liners had stopped in Malta this year, bringing over half a million tourists.

Turning to ship registration, Mr Galea said Malta's register was the fifth biggest in the world with a tonnage of 27 million. Such a placing was an indication of the responsibility and obligations the country had locally and worldwide.

He said that for the third consecutive time, Malta had been elected a member of the IMO executive.

Referring to comments by Labour MP Joe Mizzi earlier in the debate, the minister said the length of the Cirkewwa breakwater was decided after studies by foreign experts.

The Cirkewwa/Mgarr terminals would cost more than originally planned because of drastic changes to meet Mepa requirements and to reduce the environmental impact.

As for the Grand Harbour, it was not the case of warships being given preference over cruise liners, although there had been an issue about this earlier in the year.

On the EU directive regarding port workers, Mr Galea said the government had always made it clear that workers in Maltese ports had to continue earning a good living but they had to understand that reforms needed to be carried out and implemented.

Turning to public transport, Mr Galea said that before the last election the Labour party had promised an underground rail system. But Labour MPs had now accepted that this could be difficult to bring about because the Maltese population was too small to make this financially viable.

Mr Galea said the government would continue to work on improving traffic management. With some 268,000 vehicles on Maltese roads, Malta had some of the most congested roads in Europe.

But people who complained about the traffic also needed to understand that they should be willing to leave their car in the garage every now and then and use public transport or share transport with somebody else.

There was no doubt that public transport needed to improve. It was the operators who had to agree to the required changes. He agreed with Mr Buhagiar that rather than fighting for their own patch, all sectors involved in public transport should work together on an integrated transport policy.

He also agreed with Mr Buhagiar on the need for a direct service between towns and villages but there had to be providers of such services.

If those providing the service today were not willing to give such services, others should be able to provide it instead.

On the fact that some roads were closed for reasons such as village feasts, Mr Galea said he had already given a clear indication that this had to stop next year. He hoped that festa organisers would not leave it to the last minute before seeking permits to close roads.

Near the end of his speech Mr Galea said the transport authority was committed to improving road safety and to halving the number of traffic fatalities by 2010.