Effective project management is one of the most demanding functions of leadership, requiring well-honed skills to deliver the project on time, according to plan, within budget and with the least inconvenience to stakeholders.
So when a small, overpopulated country, with the highest number of vehicles per kilometre of roads in the EU, attempts multiple, simultaneous road projects during the peak of summer, it’s a recipe for disastrous project management.
Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia is one of the new young ministers who projects himself as a dynamic defender of the environment and a slick manager of service provision to the public. He is today responsible for managing Malta’s chaotic roads.
New roads built over recent years have allowed for some brisker traffic flows in some areas. But when several road improvement projects, most of which last months, are carried out in different parts of the island at the same time, the road network just cannot handle it.
Yet, Farrugia has tried to shift blame: “The traffic jams are not just due to infrastructure work, but also because of closed roads for feasts during the summer months.”
He does have a point. Village feasts should never close down major national arteries but should be reorganised to avoid closures.
And if it simply can’t be avoided, Farrugia, as minister for both infrastructure and transport, has the power to ensure things are planned well enough to avoid causing so much delay and stress to drivers.
The last thing this country needs is public projects mismanaged at the operational level as a result of political or district priorities
Instead, he shirks his responsibility by giving the impression that he faces a cultural dilemma: “The country needs to decide if we want to have the feasts which have taken place for over the past 50 or 60 years, or not.”
The way taxpayers’ money is squandered in public projects because of poor governance is well documented. It is now more than evident that poor project management skills are also damaging people’s well-being.
Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant, who no longer needs to mince his words to endear himself with the electorate, is right when he argues that there are too many public roadworks going on and is causing a great sense of frustration.
For too long, ministers have used populist tactics so as not to upset sections of the electorate.
Trying to pander to localised popular support by closing roads because of a particular festa only infuriates countless thousands of drivers.
Farrugia must have carried out a political cost-benefit analysis of the impact of undertaking several extensive infrastructure projects at the peak of summer while also submitting to the wishes of festa enthusiasts.
But what may be politically expedient for the minister is grossly unreasonable for commuters who do not want their driving experience to be one of constant stress and time wasting.
Traffic is bad enough at the best of times, especially since the lack of enforcement continues to fuel the road anarchy.
Before this country comes out with a workable mass transportation system and encourages more people to resort to cleaner modes of transport, there is little hope that drivers will ditch their cars.
So the last thing this country needs is public projects mismanaged at the operational level as a result of political or district priorities.
Farrugia is no worse and no better than his cabinet colleagues in putting short-term political interests ahead of what is good for the community as a whole.
He should admit that glaring incompetence and populist tactics are getting in the way of the smooth completion of taxpayer-funded projects.