COVID-19 entry rules

Much is being written about the new COVID-19 entry regulations into Malta. Judging from the tendency I see online, most readers seem to simply blame the tourists for having the wrong papers and find it acceptable to force them to stay at a government chosen hotel at a hefty €1,400 bill.

The thing is that it is so confusing to really find out which exact papers one needs. We are flying to Malta this month and we have sent scanned copies of our EU vaccine pass and asked directly for a confirmation of whether they are valid or not. 

We have sent copies to the DOI, Air Malta and the customer care of the health department. The answer is always the same. They simply send us a link to an official site with about six pages of regulations.

We want a simple answer: is our COVID pass valid in Malta or not? Do we need to come over and see? A sort of Russian roulette?

Why not introduce a service where one can scan the QR code and gets an immediate yes-or-no answer? Can someone tell us yes or no, without us having to go through loads of rules?

Victor Scicluna – Munich, Germany

A national shame

Many of our roads are in poor shape.

Like many countries, Malta’s tourism has suffered due to COVID-19 and is still suffering. Our country is ever so reliant on tourism that we do everything we can to entice tourists to land on our shores.

Just offering a sum of money to the tourist is certainly not going to fix the problem. Why is it that our government is hell-bent on increasing tourism when it is doing nothing to improve the infrastructure?

What is Infrastructure Malta doing at the moment? It is constructing new roads and flyovers and ignoring the existing roads in the town and villages. These new roads, although just laid, are far from being good as they all undulate. No sooner do we resurface the road than some person within a government department notices or remembers that he/she has forgotten that some pipework had still to be laid. Consequently, the road is ripped up and, then, either hastily repaired badly or concrete is poured into the hole!

Basically, the condition of our roads is hideous to look at, let alone drive on. There have been many times when I have written on the condition of our roads but it has always fallen upon deaf ears.

In my opinion, Infrastructure Malta should no longer be in charge of repairing our roads, main or otherwise. They have shown themselves to be inadequate for the job. The crux of this job should come from within the town or village and that means the local council. There is no one in Infrastructure Malta who knows that in Tower Road, Sliema there are two deep holes, which have been ‘untouched’ for three months and, with the weight of the traffic, they keep getting worse. You can rest assured that there will soon be an accident either with a biker or a car. It will then  be the time for everybody to shrug off the blame.

The only entity which knows only too well the aches and pains of a village or town is the local council, which is constantly receiving information from the town’s inhabitants. The council should be allotted an annual sum of money and equipment for this type of work. The government can then send persons over to inspect the works and audit the expenditures. Failure in any one of these areas would lead the council to answer for any misgivings. We do not know how to build good roads in Malta. Another great weakness is the laying of manholes, which all eventually sink into the road and, as such, turn into a large hole.

The authorities seem to forget that traffic in Malta and Gozo has increased immensely, as has the number of trucks, cranes and cement mixers, which put greater pressure on the road surface.

So, give the full maintenance of the town to its council. If all councils made an effort, I am sure the result would be superior to all the efforts made by Infrastructure Malta  and our islands would surely look better.

David Demajo – St Julian’s

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