Mellieha mayor John Buttigieg told a Cabinet meeting that the council should receive part of the VAT paid by hotels in the locality to be used for the benefit of the whole community.

He was speaking at the beginning of the second Cabinet meeting held outside Castille in this legislature. The first had been held in Marsaxlokk.

Mr Buttigieg spoke about traffic issues in Mellieha’s main road, George Borg Olivier Street, and the need to improve the promenade at Ghadira for the bay to retain its blue flag status.

He also called on the government to consider having an industrial park in the Tat-Tomna area and for Selmun Tower and Manikata to get special attention they deserve.

For his part, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that a white paper will be issued soon to revise the wardens’ system and called for better public cooperation in public cleanliness matters. He said that beaches are not clean enough and the Tourism Zone Management Committee will help to better organise matters before summer.

Funds for these will come from the revenue generated by the citizenship programme, he said.

He also mentioned that local councils are not happy with the local wardens system and said this will be improved to the benefit of local councils. A white paper will therefore be issued.

Discussing Selmun Palace and the Hotel, Dr Muscat said a policy will soon be announced by which a number of government properties will be devoluted to the private sector so that they can be put to better use while maintenance can take place. While a list of property that can be devoluted has been compiled, the scheme will be an ongoing one and not all properties will be released at one go.