One of the first taxes the government would reconsider if it reaches its financial targets for this year is the departure tax, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

Speaking during the second in a series of dialogues that the government is holding on how to spend the e805 million that Malta obtained in EU funds for 2007-2013, Dr Gonzi said that the increase in departure tax had been necessary in the context of the government's programme to bring back to shape public finances.

The government has already announced the setting up of a task force early next year that will see an overhaul of the country's taxation system, he said.

One of the participants at the meeting said that Air Malta staff was demoralised as the restructuring plan had not succeeded and there were fears that the company would suffer the same fate as Sea Malta.

Replying to this, Dr Gonzi said that Air Malta would not suffer the same fate as Sea Malta. He said that the restructuring plan had yielded results, but at the end of the road, the crisis of the hike in oil prices hit Air Malta too.

Since last August, this had placed an additional burden on Air Malta, as well as other airlines worldwide, he said.

Dr Gonzi said government wanted Air Malta to operate successfully but without taking any subsidies.

As the dialogue was held in Birkirkara, most of the 22 interventions by the public dealt with the problem of the state of the roads and the issue of flooding in the locality.

Dr Gonzi said that there were already advanced plans on what is going to be done to solve the problem of storm flooding in the Birkirkara area.

A project of e80 million is being prepared in order to collect the water coming from the Naxxar area before it reaches lower areas like Birkirkara and Msida.

This project alone will take up 10 per cent of the EU funds, but it is a problem that the country must face up to, Dr Gonzi said.

However, the Resources and Infrastructure Ministry has already dealt with the problem of flooding in other areas of the country, such as Qormi and Marsa, using EU funds that have already been obtained.

Dr Gonzi said that in 2006-2007, the government will be giving an impetus to the residential roads.

Urban Development and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett said that there are around 400 residential roads to be completed by the next general election.

A woman asked the Prime Minister on whether there were EU funds for child care centres, in order to enable women to leave their home and find a job.

Dr Gonzi said that this mission is accepted by the EU and was included in Malta's National Reform Programme for implementing the Lisbon Agenda.

He said the government was in the process of thinking how to regulate childcare centres in order to bring them up to EU standards.

EU funds could then be used to upgrade existing child care centres up to EU standards, Dr Gonzi said.