I refer to the article by Paul Aquilina titled All that the PN builds, the MLP destroys (TMID, 19 October).

Mr Aquilina’s insinuations in said article are unfounded, mainly because his source of information is completely incorrect. First of all the MLP democratically won the Mqabba local council because a considerable number of PN supporters who gave their first preference to PN candidates gave their second preference to the MLP candidates because they had trust in them. When the Labour majority entered office in April 2005, the financial situation inherited from the PN council legislation of the year 2004-2005 alone, was a deficit in the working capital of Lm34,917. This amounts to 40 per cent of the annual government allocation for the village.

It is true that the Department of Local Government ordered the Mqabba local council not to make any financial commitments except for those the council is obliged to do by law, but this order was never given to the PN administration when they were in office, even though the department was given the quarterly financial results during the year in question.

The MLP majority planned to eliminate this inherited deficit in a period of three years. The Department of Local Government was informed and accepted our plan accordingly.

I challenge Mr Aquilina to reach our council whenever he pleases so as to verify for himself the financial situation of the council today, even though the Labour majority still has another six months in office.

I am pleased to inform Mr Aquilina and your readers that the deficit inherited by the PN administration when in office has been eliminated in full. Furthermore the MLP majority has managed to finalise two large projects which were of utmost importance to our village. The first project was the construction of an abutment wall and the widening of the Tas-Sejba Road – the road that connects the south and north regions of the Maltese islands.

The deterioration of said road was such that immediate action had to be taken in order to eliminate the dangerous situations it was creating leading to potentially major road accidents. The council entered into a partnership with private contractors who contributed a sum of around Lm35,000 in material and services for the project. Although this road evidently falls under the responsibility of the central government, no financial help was offered by the government at the time.

The second project was the resurfacing of Valletta Road. This project included the construction of new pavements in patterned concrete along with the introduction of new water culverts, benches, decorative lanterns and a traffic management scheme of one ways.

I now proudly announce that the inherited deficit and the above mentioned projects are all paid up in full, meaning that the council has no more financial burdens to bear. Let us now leave it up to the local citizens to judge who was the most accountable in administrating the Mqabba local council.

Nicholas Briffa

Mayor of Mqabba