Economic assets going to waste

It never stops amazing good, honest, uncommitted economists just how much of this country’s national assets (money/capital/bank funds, human resources, time, land, raw materials, etc.) are being daily wasted on the altar of incorrect, unthought and unplanned decisions.

There are currently 81,000 plus properties whose raison d’être, obviously that of being occupied by humans, is blatantly allowed to be flouted by the country’s decision-maker. These are properties which are not occupied all through the year and, hence, the negative return or wasting of the capital assets invested in them during their periods of non-occupancy.

Instead of action being taken by the Planning Authority and the politically powerful to reduce the number of new properties being built every year, building permits continue to be issued like pastizzi (cheesecakes).

Another example of wasted or wasting assets is the issue of agricultural land. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Same situation in the tourism industry. This industry, year after year, never reaches anywhere near 100 per cent occupancy of available beds/rooms. Instead, we continue to read about requests for more rooms to be added to existing hotels, requests for more so-called “boutique” hotels to be built, more requests for properties to be registered as so-called “holiday apartments”. Ergo, occupancy rates never get anywhere near, say 95 per cent per annum, and ever more vacant space and capital goes down the drain as we go along.

We see wastage of capital resources also in our maritime industry. Instead of the government subscribing quickly and fully to all the proposals of the Maritime Forum, it dilly-dallies in making decisions that could utilise much more fully this industry’s assets and failure to attract more and more of our youth to this sector continues unabated.

Another example of wasted or wasting assets is the issue of agricultural land. Times of Malta has, over recent weeks, published a number of features which demonstrate that the amount of agricultural land being allowed to be shifted into development projects of various sorts and guises is indeed great. That means more assets, that is, land that can and should either remain or be brought into preciously needed agricultural production to feed the people of this country. But, no, more and more of that is lost to the B&C sector, which, by the way, has now been shown time and again to actually be making an ever-smaller contribution to the country’s social and economic well-being.

There are other examples of areas where national economic assets are slowly but surely being put to carnage. Barring a few, where are the honest economists in this country?

John Consiglio – Birkirkara