The goal for the next five years can be encapsulated in two words: sustainable development, the government said yesterday.
Reading what the government is planning for the current legislature, President Fenech Adami said: “Sustainable development has three main dimensions – economic, social and environmental. Our challenge is to ensure continuous economic development, promoted by education, social development, with particular attention to environmental protection.”
Here are the main points of the government’s plans, most of which had already been included in the Nationalist Party’s electoral manifesto with some nuances, which will still lead to questions as to whether the government intends to carry out its electoral commitments in its first year or later.
Land use
Malta must maximise the use of its ports, harbours and coastal zone.
The use of land owned or held by the State will be planned according to the principles of sustainable development. In a separate exercise, the rent laws are to be revised to encourage the efficient use of existing buildings. The new legislation will seek to reconcile the twin aims of protecting current tenants and of ensuring that landlords receive what is their due.
The government has committed itself to increasing the rate of home ownership, and will improve and adapt existing schemes while introducing new ones, to make it possible for more people to buy their own home.
The title of tenant-farmers to State-owned land will be strengthened, which will give them the basis they require for investment. Fishing and animal husbandry are small in terms of their financial contribution to the country, but significant in other ways. They play an important part in Malta’s livelihood and will be nurtured through further support and investment made possible in part by European Union funds.
The economy
The government’s economic plans are designed to provoke greater economic activity, by incentivising work and stimulating demand. The aim is to shift the current deficit into surplus by 2010 – an ambitious aim in the light of the international economic situation, but one that the government firmly believes can be realised.
Public expenditure will continue to be restricted without compromising social services, healthcare and education. Public information campaigns will endeavour to make the true cost and value of these services known to all, the truth being that there is no such thing as a free service, that everything comes at a cost, and what is free is actually paid for through taxation.
The government will intensify the fight against tax evasion and the abuse of social services.
Its tax reforms will include:
• a lowering of the income tax rate;
• incentives for women to return to work;
• the exemption of certain assets from exposure to inheritance tax;
• the abolition of departure tax, credit card levies and television licences;
• adjustments to the car registration tax system;
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• tax exemptions for monies spent on residential or home care for the elderly and the disabled;
• exemption from income tax for rent received in respect of rent-controlled properties.
In the meantime work will continue towards the targets laid out in the Lisbon Agenda, primarily:
• higher productivity and greater competitiveness;
• improvement in the circumstances of business operators, particularly the self-employed and SMEs, by cutting down on bureaucracy and related expenses, and improving the efficiency of the public sector;
• betterment of existing levels of education and training;
• production and provision of higher-value-added goods and services, leading to improved generation of work, more women in the workforce, and better pay, terms and conditions of employment;
• anticipation of market changes to ensure that Malta remains competitive;
• more competition and less bureaucratic red tape as the economy continues to open up.
Social development
The government will continue to work with employers and the unions to build better circumstances for a proper work and family balance so that the pressures on family life are, where possible, reduced. This involves a long-term commitment to education, training and the betterment of work opportunities, which gives men and women who work more flexibility while raising a family.
Efforts at eradicating social services abuse will continue, but the government will also:
• continue to subsidise water and electricity for those households most in need;
• strengthen the regulatory set-up for competition and for the protection of the consumer; this will monitor the prices of essential commodities like basic foods and medicines;
• improve schemes that help the aged to carry on living in their own homes, while modernising State-owned residential homes for those who need more care;
• improve pensions;
• develop programmes for the employment of the disabled so that they may participate actively in society;
• work harder to enforce the regulations on accessibility to commercial and public premises by the disabled;
• ratify the United Nations Convention on the rights of the disabled;
• reform and update social support structures so that the good work they are doing may be even better.
National health service
Mater Dei Hospital will continue to be the pivotal point of the national health service, which will carry on providing quality care at no charge. Meanwhile, the government will focus on public information campaigns to promote a healthy lifestyle, adhering to the adage that prevention is better, and certainly less expensive and emotionally problematic, than cure. Improved focus on primary care will help towards this end by identifying incipient health problems.
The concrete measures this government will take include:
• linking health centres and the clinics of family doctors with Mater Dei Hospital;
• broadening the range and scope of the pharmacy-of-your-choice programme;
• improving the health screening programme for children;
• intensifying measures to prevent and control cancer;
• price controls on medicines;
• programmes that seek to attract more young people to careers as health care professionals;
• building a fully-equipped rehabilitation centre for those who are recovering from serious illness or injury;
• modernising Mount Carmel Hospital and developing programmes for the support of mental health patients in the community.
Education
Education reforms will continue through all levels and with increased commitment to lifelong learning for adults. The steps to be taken include:
• a continuation of the college system;
• setting up more child care centres;
• putting in place systems that allow those with special needs to carry on training or studying after they have finished compulsory schooling;
• supporting parents of children with special needs who receive their education in private schools;
• the provision of an ‘after school’ programme of sports and creativity for children in State-run schools;
• continued commitment to the refurbishment and building programme for State-run schools;
• increased focus on the use of information technology in all areas of education;
• the improvement of the scholarship and stipends systems;
• the proposal of legislation that will allow the University of Malta to implement the necessary reforms;
• the development of a new campus for MCAST;
• a greater commitment to sport in the education system.
The environment
Apart from the reform of Mepa, the government will incentivise the use of energy-efficient systems and appliances and those that use alternative sources of energy. It will also encourage and promote the collection and use of rainwater. It will lend its support to research projects that focus on ecological innovation, clean energy and reduced emissions, and which are particularly suitable for a small country like Malta.
The government will work towards a 20 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020, and achieving the aim of having 10 per cent of the energy we use come from alternative sources.
A sewage treatment plant will be built in the south of Malta so that untreated sewage will no longer be funnelled into the sea.
Urban spaces will continue to be improved. There are plans for the management of sites that fall within the Natura 2000 scheme. New areas will be given over to afforestation projects. The ability of people to enjoy the countryside unhindered will be safeguarded.
The road-building programme will continue. Public transport services will be strengthened. Traffic management schemes will be developed, including those for the control and reduction of air pollution. Steps will be taken to promote animal welfare.
Good governance
The government proposes the following legislation:
• on public administration (the Public Administration Act);
• for a special investigator within the Permanent Commission Against Corruption;
• on freedom of information (the Freedom of Information Act);
• on the protection of whistleblowers (the Whistleblower Act);
• for the empowerment of the Ombudsman in coordinating all administrative complaints in the public service as a whole;
• on the financing of political parties;
• on the strengthening of the electoral system, within the context of a revision of the Constitutional provisions;
• on the regulation of conflicts of interest of members of the House of Representatives (MP’s);
• on the placing in ‘blind trust’ any commercial interests and non-fixed/public investments held by government ministers and Parliamentary secretaries.
Tourism
By 2015, the tourism industry will be facing fresh challenges, competing with new destinations and product offerings, and dealing with new operators and customer trends. The government will work with stakeholders to make Malta a unique Mediterranean destination. The National Tourism Plan will be updated to anticipate these shifts and changes. There will be tax incentives for families who host foreign students. There will be strong investment in tourism areas and in the restoration and upkeep of heritage sites. The Grand Harbour and Marsamxett harbour projects will be implemented. Dock No. 1 in Vittoriosa will be regenerated as a recreational area with a promenade that links it to Fort St Angelo, and right through to Pietà and Sliema.
Manufacturing
Malta will move in the direction of high-value-added production, which offers higher pay for greater skills, in sectors that include pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and sophisticated technology. There will be incentives for industrial investment and industrial zones will be developed, including new factories at Hal Far, Mosta Technopark and the Artisans’ Village in Ta’ Qali. The Kordin Business Incubation Centre will be extended to offer improved support services to fledgling businesses. Programmes financed by EU funding will offer incentives for research and entrepreneurship. The government will work to improve and to capitalise on Malta’s air and sea links.
