“The Opposition will be monitoring in a constructive, non-partisan way the government’s plans in the IT and communications sector and ensure that it meets these aims within two years as it declared in its strategy document,” MLP IT spokesman Leo Brincat said in a statement.

“The Opposition’s primary critique is that the government has committed itself to ambitious targets which it is planning to achieve in a short period of less that two years instead of spreading them on a medium to long term plan.”

Mr Brincat asked whether the government could really achieve its aims to have 90 per cent of businesses online or 60 per cent of export-oriented companies using e-commerce to make business or even that 60 per cent of Maltese will be broadband connected – all by 2006.

He also pointed out that it was odd that the government had plans to support local councils to assume the role of ICT satellites when the same government had cut their budget twice in recent months.

While the document makes no reference to the educational centres that Cisco and Microsoft had to set up, Mr Brincat added, government had made three promises that, while positive, raise questions as to how realistic they may be.

The targets are, Mr Brincat continued: that by end 2006, the educational system will produce 500 IT specialists each year; that there will be ten business IT-related start-ups each year and that by the end of the period Malta would become a “donor” country, helping other countries develop their IT.

He also commented that it was not yet clear how the government intended to use ICT as a “whistle-blowing” instrument in the public sector. This strategy has to be put in the context of the poor condition of the economy and the lack of commitment shown by the private sector with regard to e-commerce.

There is also no mention of the level of funding that could be expected from the EU in this sector, especially in terms of education and research, he said.

Mr Brincat did comment positively on the document, however, saying that contrary to controversial laws such as the recent eco-tax bill, this document is the result of wide consultation which the Opposition hopes will also be used when the government treats socio-economic hot topics.

The Labour Party believes that IT should be used as a catalyst for a reform in the public sector. IT processes need to be redesigned to be more “citizen centric”, he said, with more priority given to the needs of the citizen. “This goal can only be achieved if the people’s expectations are met with a consistent and integrated approach.”