Residents of St Paul’s Bay Housing Estate feel betrayed by the Labour Party for not implemeting its pledge to regenerate the estate, President of the Nationalist Party’s Executive Committee Ann Fenech said this morning.

Dr Fenech said that prior to the last local council elections, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, at the time Leader of the Opposition, held a press conference at the estate to announce a regeneration project for the area, presenting a plan drawn up by Architect Daniel Micallef, today president of the Labour Party. However, three years down the line, works for the project have not even started.

She noted that three years ago, Dr Muscat said that the Nationalist Party had treated the estate’s residents as second class citizens. “It is safe to say that Dr Muscat has treated the residents as third class and not second class citizens, because he took their vote without committing to his promises.”

Dr Fenech added that the Labour Party had promised another project – that of a playground near the primary school – a project the council had gained funds for. Works however never started.

“There is a constant pattern of broken promises when it comes to Dr Joseph Muscat – he also promised a new power station prior to the local council election,” Dr Fenech said.

She noted that Labour candidate Alfred Grim distributed a promotional leaflet admitting that St Paul’s Bay has been neglected.

PN spokesperson for Local Councils David Aguis urged St Paul’s Bay residents to give Nationalist candidates a chance to provide stability to the locality. He noted that in the past three years, the mayor resigned and left the PL and the deputy mayor did not accept his role as mayor, and will not be contesting on the PL’s ticket.