Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the government will continue doing its utmost and implementing measures to ensure that social services remain sustainable and continue being provided free by the State.
Speaking at his monthly briefing for the press, Dr Gonzi said the government believes in this social service and will continue implementing measures to make it sustainable. He was replying a question on whether, once Mater Dei Hospital opens, health services will continue being provided free of charge. He said the government believes this is an important service and will do its utmost to keep on providing it.
Also on the new hospital, Dr Gonzi said that following the alleged irregularities on the Integrated Health Information System, the IT system at Mater Dei will not be fully operational by 1 July this year when Skanska is committed to hand over a fully-commissioned hospital. He said the government took action because a tender worth E28 million has to be awarded in the most transparent manner.
However, he said, the IT system that would be available by then is believed to be enough for the hospital to function properly. He said that when the hospital is handed over and the government considers it safe for patients to be transferred to the new hospital, the migration will begin. “We will not take any risks with patients’ health,” he said repeatedly.
Replying to another question on why the road projects commissioned by the government were costing much more than was budgeted, Dr Gonzi said several unexpected problems and hitches resulted in extra work, which had to be done in order to ensure that the roads being built are of the best quality possible.
In the case of the Hal Far road, he said, the plan was to build a culvert one metre high. However, the Water Services Corporation asked to build a bigger culvert so as to fit in more services. He said the choice was to either build a bigger culvert or else stick to the budget and with what was planned. He said the decision taken was to change the original plans and this resulted in more costs.
As for the Gozo road, Dr Gonzi said that although the necessary tests had been carried out before the plans were finalised, when excavations started the contractors found more clay than they had bargained for. As a result, they had to dig deeper to find more solid foundations.
“We took the decisions in order to have first quality roads and value for money,” he said.
Dr Gonzi also spoke about the positive results being achieved in the country’s finances. He said that at a recent Ecofin meeting, Malta’s improvement in this regard were noted and the country was pulled out of the Excessive Deficit Procedure for those countries which have a deficit that surpasses the three per cent mark of the Gross Domestic Product. He said this was very good news, especially in view of the fact that Malta has to be assessed in June to determine whether the country is prepared to introduce the euro.
The Prime Minister said that the number of public sector employees decreased by 3,500 in two years while the number of people employed with the private sector increased by nearly 5,200. The gainfully occupied increased from 137,000 in 2004 to 139,000 last year.
Foreign investment in 2006 reached a record of more than Lm500 million and the government plans to maintain the good results throughout this year.
He said the government will send an information leaflet to Maltese households next week in order to start receiving feedback which would then be used to compile the pre-budget document for the 2008 budget. He said this document is expected to be ready till June.
When asked, Dr Gonzi said the government is still awaiting advice on whether it can start legal proceedings against those who damaged the country’s reputation with the fake report on alleged wrongdoing in the awarding of the tender for equipment for the Mater Dei Hospital.