It is clear that major projects led by Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg have failed, Opposition leader Bernard Grech said on Saturday, after Borg blamed climate change for the flooding of recently completed roads.
After heavy rains caused several parts of the island to flood and turn roads into rivers, journalists confronted Borg on Friday for an explanation as to how multi-million projects such as the Marsa Junction and Tal-Balal road had flooded, despite works having been completed on them relatively recently.
He deflected criticism and blamed the flooding on “extraordinary rain” caused by climate change.
“Hearing Ian Borg say this is climate change makes you realise how much he doesn’t respect people’s intelligence,” Grech said in a radio interview on Saturday morning.
“Climate change didn’t start this year. Works on these roads have just been finished, are you telling me that you weren’t aware of climate change two or three years ago when these projects were being planned? Weren’t you aware that these roads flooded?”
“To me, it is gross incompetence if new roads cannot handle floods, particularly when they’re spearheaded by a minister who thinks of himself as some sort of frontrunner of Maltese politics.”
Grech said that Borg needed to be held accountable for the funds spent on major roads projects if these weren’t holding up to scrutiny.
“It’s clear that projects led by Ian Borg have failed,” Grech said.
“Last time they tried to tell us roads flooded because they hadn’t cleaned the gutters and this time he’s trying to blame climate change.”
“While the party is all for necessary big projects, if you spend €400 million of the people’s money and you still end up with all of Malta blocked because of the rain, this is a big failure from Borg. He must be held accountable for the results.”
Grech added that in light of the aftermath left by the storm, he expected the government to step up and offer compensation to farmers to fix collapsed rubble walls.
Grech slams Anġlu Farrugia
In the interview, Grech also criticised Speaker Anglu Farrugia, and said that he was not being loyal to the oath he took to serve the citizens and constitution of Malta.
Earlier this week Farrugia and journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia traded blows over the handling of MP Rosianne Cutajar’s ethics breach.
The Standards in Public Life Committee last week agreed to reprimand Cutajar for breaching parliamentary ethics after she failed to declare cash following her role in brokering a property deal with 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech.
However, rather than a stern reprimand, the letter drafted by Farrugia had simply informed Cutajar of the committee’s decision.
“I’m sorry to say that the Speaker has admitted that he is there to defend the interests of the government and he is not being loyal to the oath he took, where he promised his loyalty to the people and the Republic of Malta,” Grech said.
“Throughout the last six months in particular, the speaker gave rulings and voted in ways to defend the government on several occasions, even after the Standards Commissioner showed several tangible breaches of ethics.”
Grech added that it was time for a review of parliamentary procedures to make sure that the body is truly able to scrutinize and hold the government accountable for its actions.
“The speaker knows he is obliged to behave better,” Grech continued.
“But if he keeps blindly defending the government’s interest Malta can never get on the road that leads us to the necessary reform.”