The Labour-led Marsaxlokk council has fulfilled 85 per cent of its election manifesto during its three-year tenure, said Malta Labour Party Leader Dr Alfred Sant, who visited the fishing village yesterday.

Dr Sant praised the council for surfacing more roads than the councillors had promised prior to the 2004 election. It had also made several requests to the central administration to surface additional roads. The council, said Dr Sant, has also repaired the pavements of a number of streets and invested in education. It had donated Lm600 worth of books every year to the library and had installed air-conditioning and made the premises more accessible. It had also organised a number of story-telling sessions and courses in handicrafts.

The Labour leader criticised the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for the delay in issuing a permit for the building of a garden which, said Dr Sant, has now been built and the area landscaped.

The MLP is promising further road maintenance and landscaping and that it will insist that the central government change the village’s drainage system, which is not catering efficiently for the locality’s needs.

Mayor Edric Micallef said the Nationalist Party’s manifesto for the village is full of pledges on behalf of the central administration that have been made during all election campaigns. In particular, the mayor referred to the building of a school hall and the embellishment of Xatt is-Sajjieda, which were also included in the 2006 Budget Speech.

PN councillors are also planning to “finish” a public garden that has been completed by the Labour-led council, said the mayor. He also pointed out that the government has erroneously stated that it had installed a synthetic turf pitch at the primary school. The pitch still has to be installed by the council, in collaboration with Marsaxlokk FC, said Mr Micallef.

The PN manifesto is also promising a new club house for Marsaxlokk FC. The mayor said the club has already submitted an application for this, which has been left in abeyance by Mepa as it is waiting for a change in policy. The mayor encouraged the PN to urge the government to change its policies in order for the permit to be issued shortly.