Each October, the finance minister steps up to the plate and tells the country how the government plans to spend its hard-earned taxpayer money in myriad new projects and  initiatives. 

As Finance Minister Clyde Caruana reels off a list of all the plans the government has up its sleeve during Monday’s budget speech, you’d be forgiven for letting your mind bathe in the nostalgia of promises past, wondering what happened to those pledges that once caught your eye but are now nowhere to be seen.

Times of Malta waded through some of the budget measures announced during the current administration’s tenure that have yet to see the light of day.

Metro plans that went nowhere

It is the obvious place to start.

With a general election on the horizon and both main parties jostling for a seat aboard the Castille train, the government unveiled its plans for a mass transit system during the 2021 budget.

The plans for a metro system were the highlight of that year’s budget speech, with then-finance minister Edward Scicluna dedicating a section of his speech to the government’s vision.

The metro project, with a three-line underground metro system and 25 stations around Malta, was unveiled in October 2021.

In hindsight, the cautious language Scicluna used in his speech may have hinted at what’s to come.

The “first phase of the study on the possibility” of introducing a metro was wrapped up, Scicluna said. But geotechnical studies were set to follow, which would help determine “whether the project is viable”.

It seems that the answer was “no”, with the project quietly shelved once the election was over.

Electric charging points lack spark

Malta’s push to reduce its rising emissions and meet EU decarbonisation targets is largely due to its ability to reduce traffic emissions.

So, the country heaved a sigh of relief back in late 2020 when the then-finance minister first announced that the government would install 130 charging pillars for electric vehicles.

Out of the planned 1,200 charging points, only 372 have been installed so far. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

This grew more ambitious by the following year, with newly-installed minister Clyde Caruana saying the government would install 1,200 charging points across the country over the next three years.

This pledge was repeated over the next two years, although last year’s budget speech suggested that authorities had their work cut out. Out of the planned 1,200 charging points, only 372 had been installed, Caruana said.

Parked park projects

Unsurprisingly, green spaces and pedestrianisation have taken a front seat in more recent budget speeches.

While some of the promised parks and green spaces did materialise, from the Bengħajsa family park to San Klement and the Ta’ Qali national park, others seem to have dried up.

In October 2021, we were told that geotechnical studies into the Santa Venera roofing project were finalised, with the government now figuring out how to turn the project into a public-private partnership.

The site in Santa Venera which is to be roofed, with a garden on top. File photo

Meanwhile, we were promised that Floriana’s St Anne Street was on the government’s radar, although its description featured the dreaded phrase “the government will proceed with studies to explore” its eventual pedestrianisation.

San Ġwann’s pedestrianisation made a more recent appearance, cropping up in last year’s budget speech, described as being the subject of “preparatory works”.

Fast forward 12 months, we have since learnt that both San Ġwann and Floriana projects have been sent back to the drawing board, after initial plans were deemed not feasible.

An underpass was set to be built beneath both Vjal ir-Rihan in San Ġwann and St Anne Street in Floriana, but plans have changed. Photos: File photo (left), DHI Periti (right)

Meanwhile, Santa Venera’s roof garden is stuck in administrative limbo, with Project Green saying it plans to kick off initial procurement processes for the project sometime next year.

But authorities are running out of time to implement their much-touted plans to turn Inwadar Park into a woodland “larger than that of Buskett”. The works, announced in the 2022 budget were set to take place over a period of five years.

With just two years left on the clock, news about the project has gone quiet.

Land reclamation plans on shaky ground

Promises of land reclamation first made it to the budget speech in late 2022, with the 2023 budget speech dedicating a section to the government’s plans in the field.

Authorities had “met with experts” to “explore” several land reclamation projects, parliament was told, with a study to understand the feasibility and impacts of these projects set to follow.

There seems to have been little progress by the time the next year’s budget rolled around.

The area off Xgħajra was identified as the only one viable for major land reclamation. File photo

Again, we were told that authorities had “begun to explore a number of projects” with the help of unnamed “experts”. These ideas were being reviewed, to eventually “come up with proposals for further discussion”.

Despite dropping several hints about land reclamation projects over the years, the government is still keeping its cards close to its chest.

Not-so-speedy SPED revision

Back in 2020, then-environment minister Aaron Farrugia announced that the Planning Authority’s top policy document, the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED), would undergo a wide-ranging revision, much to the joy of planners across the country.

The planned revision found its way into the 2021 budget speech, with Edward Scicluna saying that authorities will “continue to revise” the document.

One consultative forum and several planning ministers later, things appear to have barely budged from where they were four years ago.

The Planning Authority has quickly moved to revise local plans in some areas, but is still toiling away at the SPED revision. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

In last year’s budget speech we were told that “preparations” on the document had “continued throughout this year”, with a public consultation set to be launched in the coming months.

Anyone waiting with bated breath would have been disappointed to find that, 12 months on, the Planning Authority has quickly moved to revise local plans in some areas, but is still toiling away at the SPED revision.

A carnival village, a new subway and a sports complex

Despite featuring in budget speeches as far back as 2021, the long-touted carnival village has yet to see light of day, with new plans being given the go-ahead earlier this year.

That’s more than can be said for the promise to build a new subway at Portes des Bombes.

The plans, mentioned in passing during the 2021 budget speech, would have delighted anybody who has had the misfortune of venturing down into the subway in recent years.

A computer-generated image of the planned subway station at Portes des Bombes.

But there has been no whiff of a new subway since, despite fanciful plans featuring an underground café and bicycle parking proposed by Infrastructure Malta.

That same speech promised that the government would be investing in a new sports complex at the university “during the coming year”.

The complex, we were told, would feature an indoor running track, a football pitch, an Olympic track and facilities for the performing arts.

But the project seems to have stalled, amid bickering over a proposed underground car park.

A computer-generated image of the proposed Carnival Village in Marsa. Photo: PA