In an emotionally charged, and unexpected, wind-up, during a meeting that left the audience on their feet applauding and cheering, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday told the Maltese people to give the country’s governance to a political party that will give them even more than they bargained for.

Dr Gonzi was speaking during a public dialogue meeting that was chaired by RTK news manager Leonard Callus – the first of a series of public dialogues that will be held over the next week as part of the Nationalist Party’s Independence celebrations.

Environment and Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino and Resources and Infrastructure Minister Ninu Zammit also participated in the dialogue meeting.

The theme of last night’s discussion was Building on our Success for a Better Environment (Insahhu s-Success Taghna Biex Ikollna Ambjent Ahjar).

Dr Gonzi pointed out that Independence Day is a celebration that forms part of Malta’s and the Nationalist Party’s history.

“We have a lot to be proud of – we built a country where we have to keep a balance between keeping our environment safe and creating jobs,” he said.

He expressed his immense satisfaction at having been invited, along with other EU finance ministers, to an informal Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) meeting on Thursday in Portugal that was only open to countries that had adopted the euro.

The prime minister pointed out that development can take place while respecting the environment and added that his government considers the environment to be one of the country’s main pillars.

“Since I was appointed prime minister we have invested over Lm147m in the environment while, when Opposition leader Alfred Sant was in government, he only invested Lm3m,” he said.

He also said he could not understand why l-orizzont was the only newspaper that did not have a front page photo of the recently unveiled model of SmartCity that took place during his recent visit to Dubai.

“This newspaper, along with One News, refuse to see that this investment of Lm100m, that will create 5,600 jobs, is a proof of our success,” he said.

Mr Pullicino said that Malta cannot have a strong economic development until the environment is taken care of.

When asked by Mr Callus what he thought of the “controversial” Sant’ Antnin Recycling Plant, Mr Pullicino pointed out that the former recycling plant should have been controversial and not the new one.

“A controversy was made over the new one for partisan reasons – Alternattiva Demokratika (AD) had made it very clear in its former electoral campaign that Sant’ Antnin needs to be used but now it has backtracked over what it has said,” he said.

The minister said that he understood the fears of the Marsascala residents but added that the new plant will improve the quality of life of its employees and the residents themselves.

“The gas generated in the plant will be converted to energy – the equivalent of the consumption of 1,400 households in one year,” said Mr Pullicino.

Furthermore, he added, no obnoxious smells will be discharged from the plant as all the work will take place under airtight tents and the air will be purified before it is released into the atmosphere again.

Mr Pullicino said that yesterday, the second phase to improve the Maghtab landfill structure had commenced and that in October the landscaping of the lower part of the landfill will start.

“The gases generated from the Ghallis landfill will be also converted into energy – the equivalent of the consumption of 3,000 households in a year,” he said.

Mr Callus then turned to Minister Zammit and asked what was going on with the paving works in Valletta – especially in Merchants Street.

Mr Zammit explained that the architects behind the project placed very high specifications on the materials that were to be used – especially the paving stones.

“When the tender for the paving material was issued, all specifications were met except for the compressure strength – the amount of weight the stone can take,” he said.

Much to the amusement of all those present – especially Mr Pullicino – Minister Zammit told Mr Pullicino that the architects kept him in mind when issuing the specifications for the paving stone (Hasbu ghalik George).

As a result, said Mr Zammit, the tender had to be reissued according to the law.

However, he told the audience that the government wants the works to be finished as quickly as possible and that, in fact, the paving had to start on 1 October so “we are not far behind.”

Mr Pullicino then spoke about the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) – a structure that was sorely needed because development cannot be stopped but it needs to be carefully planned.

“Mepa is a regulator – it cannot be popular with the people. When parliament discussed the development zones in 1989 we took a very difficult decision but at the end of the day we did so because we had the country’s interest at heart and not because we wanted votes,” said Mr Pullicino.

He pointed out that Mepa should become more client-friendly but praised the authority for placing all the information available on its website and said that other departments should do the same.