Labour leader Joseph Muscat, in creating doubts about capital projects which serve to create economic expansion, has clearly shown that he has no vision, the Transport Ministry said.
Both Dr Muscat, Labour Party spokesmen and the party’s media have tried to belittle the St Elmo breakwater bridge, the ministry said. This was inaugurated on Tuesday and since then some 6,000 people, including a large number of tourists, have sought information about it, and how it can be visited, on the Department of Information website.
The contractors who work on it were mostly Maltese and over €2.5 million went into the pockets of their employees. But for Dr Muscat this was a waste of money and the government should not have carried out the project, the ministry said.
But even Labour governments had wanted to undo this eyesore in Grand Harbour. In fact, the ministry said, Dr Muscat had avoided mentioning that a predecessor in the party, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, had in 1985 issued a tender to LandSea Civil Engineering consortium to carry out the project.
Dr Muscat needs to understand that Valletta is today a magnet in the country’s policy and economy, and this bridge is at the mouth of the busiest port in Malta, and the most beautiful port in the Mediterranean. The government, the ministry said, wants to put more flesh to this magnet through such monuments and the bridge will be listed as a unique destination for all visitors to Malta, both for the spectacle it offers and also because every evening it is proving to be a spectacle in itself.