This was announced by prime minister Lawrence Gonzi who yesterday held the first of what will be regular meetings with the media on the current issues in the country. The initiative, welcomed by the media, is set to be a regular monthly meeting.

Dr Gonzi said that in the first 10 days of his premiership, he has met Wasteserv on the current state of play with regard to waste management, the closure of the Maghtab landfill and what is to be done about the project to have a temporary landfill at the quarries at Mnajdra, a project which has raised much opposition, on a bipartisan level, in Malta and also abroad, with questions being asked in the European Parliament.

Dr Gonzi said he told the Wasteserv people that the government commitment to stop using Maghtab as a landfill as from 1 May must be kept.

He also told Wasteserv to explore all the alternatives to see if an alternative to the Mnajdra project, about which there has been so much controversy, could be found. Wasteserv is to come up with its report in six to eight weeks, said Dr Gonzi.

Meanwhile it is a government priority to tackle the environment issue head on as this affects the quality of life and also Malta’s attractiveness for tourists.

Answering a full fusillade of questions as soon as he finished his prepared remarks, Dr Gonzi said that inert waste is already being dumped in unused quarries. Domestic waste, as from 1 May, will be taken to an area in Maghtab and packed there, awaiting a decision regarding the landfill.

If the decision is to go ahead with the Mnajdra landfill, this packaged domestic waste will be taken there and dumped. If the decision will be to take immediate steps to create an engineered landfill at Ghallis, then the packaged waste will wait there.

One issue which will immediately crop up will surely be the terrible impact on the environment of this packaged domestic waste, with its terrible cost from the deterioration and decay and the fumes this will spread around the surrounding countryside.

If no alternative to Mnajdra is found, Dr Gonzi said, “we will have to bite the bullet”.

Ironically, the study will be carried out by more or less the same experts who had previously chosen Mnajdra as the only possible location for the temporary landfill, with some help from overseas experts.

Church commission

While Dr Gonzi was addressing the media, the Curia was publishing the result of a study by a church-appointed commission on the matter.

The commission, within the Pastoral Secretariat, claimed that the Environmental Statement prepared on behalf of Wasteserv did not consider a number of impacts the Mnajdra project could have, such as on archaeological remains of world stature, the surrounding sea and on the fauna of the area. Insufficient consideration had been given to the environmental risks, the commission stated, especially as regards the impact of nearby waste on the stone of the temples.

The commission thus suggests that government should try to obtain an extension to the date by which Maghtab has to be closed and meanwhile consider how to eliminate the blot caused by the quarries near Mnajdra.

In a reaction, government appreciated the contribution but said it is impossible to negotiate an extension to the use of Maghtab.

As regards the packaging of waste, the government statement said this will be carried out in an area outside Maghtab according to procedures that conform to the EU directives. Work will therefore begin to prepare this site.

Given the size of Malta, any decision will have an impact somewhere but, the statement concluded, government is duty bound to minimise such impact as much as possible.

The upshot, it would seem, is that instead of one waste dumping site, this country is now faced with four: Maghtab (still open until the end of this month), Ghallis (where the new engineered landfill will be), Mnajdra (the site of a temporary engineered landfill while Ghallis is prepared) and now the area “outside Maghtab” (the site of a temporary packaging site for waste until a decision is reached on the temporary landfill).

In his hour–long meeting with the media, Dr Gonzi spoke about many other issues. These included:

John C Grech

The second Cabinet meeting, Dr Gonzi announced, had approved the appointment of a new chairman for the Malta Tourism Authority. MTA, he explained, is a national institution. Dr Grech had resigned along with all the other chairmen on the assumption of office of the new prime minister, and government, given the situation which had meanwhile developed at MTA, decided to accept his resignation.

Dr Gonzi referred to media reports of conflicts within the MTA board regarding Dr Grech’s involvement in what could be seen as a conflict of interest situation. Dr Gonzi said that Dr Grech had acted with honesty and integrity during his chairmanship but the situation at MTA had “created a state of tension” within the organisation which was untenable. Dr Grech, Dr Gonzi said, acknowledged the difficulty.

Dr Gonzi said he had also met the new chairman, Chris Grech, who has been appointed for the last eight months of Dr Grech’s term of office. Mr Grech has been told, Dr Gonzi said, to keep to MTA’s financial allocation.

It was pointed out to Dr Gonzi that while Singapore‘s tourism authority employs just 80 people, MTA employs over 200.

Dr Gonzi said he has asked the new chairman to study the manning level of the authority and to report back to government.

Efficiency

Dr Gonzi said he had met all permanent secretaries on Thursday and spoken to them about their crucial role within government. The government’s priorities must become theirs, he told them, and they will be held accountable for ensuring that the government service is efficient, that red tape is cut, that waste is eliminated, productivity increases and the public service delivers.

Public finances

As finance minister, Dr Gonzi said, he is keeping the financial situation under close examination.

It would seem that government is in line with its projections for the first four months of the year. Government intends paying very careful attention to the revenue and expenditure side, so that the financial targets are not only reached but also that they improve.

Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech is attending an informal Ecofin meeting in Ireland this weekend. The meeting will deal with the harmonisation of financial services between the EU and the US; an international standard of accounting; the EU economy and most importantly about the EU’s financial budgets for the years from 2007 to 2013. In this regard, Malta considers that the issue of Malta as an island region is of paramount importance.

Dr Gonzi was asked whether the new figures for the deficit show that what had been said over the past few months was not true at all. He answered that the figures have been affected through the money for the dockyard. Once that is removed from the equation, the figures are more or less in line with predictions, he said.

Asked by this paper about Malta and the Euro, Dr Gonzi said all indications are that Malta should be able to reach the Euro target as quickly as possible. If other countries join the Euro but Malta does not, this will have a negative impact on the country.

One must, however, look at this issue in the wider context of what is happening in Malta: one must measure the social impact of the measures that will have to be taken to get the Maltese finances in line with the Euro targets.

Again, a study has been commissioned on this very issue.

Dockyard

Cabinet receives a report on the dockyard at every meeting. The changes in the shift system and the reduction in overtime have had a favourable impact on the dockyard’s finances and targets for January and February have been met.

There are still arguments, warned Dr Gonzi, over the interpretation of the collective agreement, especially as regards the allowances issue. These have been reduced from 200 to just five and they must not be increased.

All indications are positive: work has been given to the dockyard by a direct order of the US Naval Force, which shows the Americans’ appreciation of the quality of work and timekeeping at the dockyard.

Job creation

This is a government priority, Dr Gonzi said, but the Maltese economy has been affected by the recession in the world economy, which is only now being lifted.

Jobs have also been lost because companies restructure: thus the dockyard, which employed 3,600 just 14 months ago, now employs just 1,400. Those who have left have either enjoyed their early retirement or else have found a new job. In some cases, they have filled posts for which government would have had to recruit people.

This means that the people who have lost their jobs are finding it doubly difficult to find a job. Government, Dr Gonzi said, will have to work twice as hard to create jobs.

This is why, contrary to the speculation in the papers, the foreign ministry has been linked to the promotion of investment, so that the Maltese embassies abroad try their hardest to attract investment to Malta.

One road this government will not take is the creation of labour corps as used to happen under the Labour governments in the 1980s.

The Presidency

Dr Gonzi here repeated most of what he said in parliament on Monday regarding the way government reached its decision to appoint Dr Fenech Adami as the new President. The two sides had agreed not to consider a fifth name, suggested by him, because they agreed that the country must have a father figure in the person of the President.

Dr Gonzi said he is still of the opinion that Dr Fenech Adami is much the best of the four names which were mentioned during the consultation with the Opposition.

He denied that his government will be overshadowed by Dr Fenech Adami breathing down his back. And the Opposition had always claimed that a divisive person was being appointed, when it discussed the appointment of Censu Tabone and Ugo Mifsud Bonnici as well as Guido de Marco.

According to this theory, Dr Gonzi said, no politician will ever be appointed president, and this is unacceptable.

Welfare and pensions

The World Bank report has been presented to the MCESD. Dr Gonzi said he would have preferred that the report had not been leaked to the public. It will now be discussed in the coming weeks within the MCESD where all members, including government, will present their reactions to the report.

The prime challenge in this regard, Dr Gonzi said, is not just the sustainability of the system but also the adequacy of pensions.

As things are now, pensioners receive Lm4,200. This means that everyone with a salary of Lm6,000 to Lm7,000 will have to make do with just Lm4,200 when they stop working. Unless something is done, this will be even more inadequate in future years.

The Lm4,200 ceiling has been in place for 23 years and must be raised.

Objectivity and realism are needed in the coming discussion.

The retirement age must be raised, but this must not happen overnight. In any case, said Dr Gonzi, many people who turn 61 want to continue working.