The journey that takes me from Attard to Sliema almost every working morning includes a perfunctory trip around Malta’s costliest ever infrastructural project – the Mater Dei Hospital. The place is impressive, even from a distance. In many ways it has become the finest symbol of the economic extravagance of the nineties. I have little doubt though that, serviced by our superb medical profession, the place will develop into an enviable medical centre of excellence.

Even before factoring the obvious lack of resources due to our size, Malta’s record in health care has been truly enviable. St Luke’s is, believe it or not, one of the most successful medical establishments in Europe. One of the successes Malta does not credit itself with is the fact that our medical service is, unlike so many other things, one of the finest in the EU. Those of you who have experienced the NHS in the UK know what I mean. We should give ourselves a round of applause.

Sadly however, during the past 12 years, due to the seemingly endless resources that have been poured into the Mater Dei project, St Luke’s has not been given the attention and resources it needed, which is why our general hospital looks so shabby and uninviting. The chronic lack of space, particularly at this time of the year when so many people fall ill because of the cold, is frustrating for patients, their visitors as well as the staff. I did find it rather disturbing some eight years ago when I visited my wife’s granny to find that she had been put up in a corridor. It is perhaps because of such experiences that so many of us no longer give a hoot about the gigantic bill Malta has had to pay for Mater Dei. We all, very justifiably I might add, aspire to state of the art facilities as well as state of the art service at Mater Dei.

However, it is important to learn from mistakes and the manner in which the Mater Dei project spiralled out of control was a mistake. It is true that most capital projects miss their budget. I remember that the Gudja Airport, projected to cost Lm13 million, was eventually completed for Lm24 million. However, Mater Dei has been different. The hospital will not only cost six times the original Lm40 million it was budgeted for, but is being delivered some nine years late and in the process starving St Luke’s from investment. The financial damage inflicted by the excessive price we have paid we will suffer well into the future. The deed is however done; the money a sunk cost.

What I wish to explore however, is what the alternatives to spending these Lm250 were. Malta needed a hospital for the next 70 years. The question that remains is: why did we have to spend a quarter of a billion to have it? Even if we assume that the initial project budgeted at Lm40 million had spiralled out of control and hit the Lm100 million mark, that would still equate to an overspending of some Lm150 million. What would we have done with such a mountain of cash?

We could have invested seriously in alternative energy. Rather than continuing to invest in hydrocarbon technology at the current rate, we should have invested in alternative technologies. An offshore wind-farm with 40 units each supplying approximately 500 homes would have given clean energy to 20 per cent of our homes and cost us about Lm50 million liri. Another Lm25 million would have financed half the cost of installing a solar water heater on every roof, reducing our domestic energy bill further by some 10 to 15 per cent. Many households would have gladly financed the other 50 per cent, particularly now in a 55 per cent surcharge environment. What’s more is that these solar water heaters could have been manufactured locally by a public-private partnership employing a good number of the skilled employees who were made redundant from the Malta Drydocks and Malta Shipbuilding. Instead many of them were seconded to local councils, where a significant number pretend to work. The investment in clean energy could have reduced demand on power generation to the point where government could have contemplated the long-overdue decommissioning of the Marsa power station. The environmental and health spin-offs from such I leave to your imagination.

Malta could have also benefited from a much-needed investment of Lm50 million in transportation. The sum of Lm20 million could have been invested to develop the “Connections” project. Connections would have revolutionised transport in the very busy inner harbour area through seaway transport, linking up to 12 coastal towns stretching from Spinola in St Julian’s to Marsa. Instead, Austin Gatt has rammed the “Park (Pay through your teeth) and Ride” scheme down our throats. Just in case you are wondering why the PN in government never promoted the “Connections” project, the answer is dead simple – it was Alfred Sant’s idea. The balance of Lm30 million should have been invested to upgrade our public transport system. This money could have bought us a complete new set of efficient, silent and appropriate buses powered by gas or electric batteries. Instead, we got a minority of buses ironically named “KingLongs” (for a small isle, may I add), powered by...? fossil fuels, of course. The majority of our buses remain the same old grotty types few ever want to board.

I can think of dozens of other projects that Malta needed and could have benefited from with the remaining balance of Lm25 million. Certainly I would have allocated a few million to buying back beautiful areas like Ta’ Cenc, to be enjoyed by all rather than a few. I would have put that hospital incinerator out of action. With Lm250 million we could have got so much value; the hospital we need, more public spaces, a revolution in energy as well as a revolution in transportation. Instead we will be getting just Mater Dei, the running costs of which remain, as yet, undisclosed.

Edward P. Fenech is the spokesperson for Finance, the Economy and Tourism of Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party