Labour Leader Alfred Sant yesterday again criticised the government’s plans to privatise Sea Malta saying that the fact that the government does not want to publish the conditions of the agreement with Grimaldi Lines gave the opposition every reason to believe that not all was being said.

Speaking in Kalkara, Dr Sant said it was not true that the government was tied down by confidentiality, which was the reason the government was giving in order not to publish details of the agreement. He also challenged the government to publish the study, which it is quoting, which concluded that Sea Malta could never be a sustainable company. Dr Sant said this was not true, and he mentioned the company’s five-year plan for it to improve, which has now been shelved.

He also questioned whether the government was also giving away the company’s investments along with the privatisation. He said these investments have proved positive for the company over the years. “The privatisation of Sea Malta must be done in the most transparent manner possible and in the best interests of the country and its people,” he said, adding that the government is duty bound to keep the public informed about this agreement.

Dr Sant said that the MLP would not even consider selling or privatising Sea Malta, which was one of the few government-owned companies that had never received any subsidy from the government.

He said that Malta needed this company and the MLP would have done its best to find other solutions to save it, rather than simply selling it to someone who will not be able to guarantee a service which Malta needs so badly.

Most of Dr Sant’s speech was about the money the government had “wasted” on consultancies. He first mentioned this subject last Sunday, when he said that in 2004 the Office of the Prime Minister, the IT and Investments Ministry, the Rural Affairs and the Environment Ministry and the Competitiveness and Communications Ministries had spent a staggering Lm2.6 million on consultancies.

Dr Sant said then that the Competitive-ness and Communications Ministry was the biggest spender, with Lm780,000, followed by the Environment and Rural Affairs Ministry with Lm765,000, the IT and Investments Ministry which spent Lm570,000 and the OPM and Finance Ministry which spent another Lm500,000 on consultancies.

During the past week, the government criticised Dr Sant, challenging him to say which of the amounts spent on consultancies had been money down the drain. His reply during yesterday’s political activity was that “most of it had been wasted”.

He said that the “money no problem” attitude, attributed to the Eddie Fenech Adami administrations in the past, was re-appearing and gave a wide array of examples of money wasted on consultancies which could have been much better spent. He said the migration plan for how the services provided at St Luke’s Hospital will begin to be provided at the new Mater Dei Hospital had cost the government Lm23,000 and has now been shelved. Also in connection with the Mater Dei Hospital, the government spent Lm213,000 on a report drawn up by Horwath as to how expenditure on the hospital project could be controlled. Even with this report, the cost of the project had still climbed to Lm139 million from the Lm81 million estimated at the onset, he said.

Dr Sant also claimed that, according to information he had, certain plans at the new hospital have been changed and electrical and other fittings – including the floor tiles – are being removed. This, he said, was proof of a lack of planning.

In another example, Dr Sant mentioned how Lm185,000 had been spent on consultancies in connection with the Cirkewwa and Mgarr passenger terminals project. Although this amount has been spent, he pointed out, the project is still far from completion. Moreover, he said, the cost of the project, which was initially Lm6.5 million, had climbed to Lm8 million and is now expected to reach the Lm15 million mark.

Dr Sant said that the government had also spent a huge amount of money on consultation involving the old Opera House. Lm400,000 had been spent on these consultancies on a project which has not yet taken off. He also mentioned the Lm410,000 paid by the government to the company SLR, which was involved in the identification of sites for the engineered landfill. He said this company was behind the decision to locate the engineered landfill close to the Hagar Qim prehistoric temples.

In his speech, Dr Sant also spoke about the current discussion within the party structures on two issues: the European Union Constitutional Treaty and the MLP’s Social and Economic Regeneration Plan. On the former, Dr Sant said the discussion was underway and is reaching its closing stages. The final decision will be taken during the party’s general conference at the end of this month. He said the results of referenda in other European countries show that the MLP’s plans to vote in favour but with certain reservations was a position that made sense.

Regarding the regeneration plan, Dr Sant said the party was preparing itself to be able to better manage the country than it is being managed at present.

Labour deputy leader Charles Mangion, who spoke before Dr Sant, gave more details about the plan which, he said, was preparing the MLP for when it returns to government.

He said that the MLP is focusing on the country’s real problems and those which are adversely affecting thousands of Maltese citizens and their families. He said one important aspect of the regeneration plan is the importance it is giving to training. Dr Mangion also touched on the point of wastage of money on consultancies. He said the MLP can give the country the breath of fresh air it needs in order to continue to prosper.

The event was also addressed by Labour MP Michael Farrugia, who spoke about the problems being faced by the Maltese health sector. He said that waiting lists at St Luke’s get longer and longer and described this as an “immoral situation”. The situation would have been worse, he said, if the workers were not giving more than their fair share.