to curb inflation, Labour Party leader Alfred Sant told supporters in Valletta yesterday.

Although Dr Sant acknowledged that part of the increase in costs is a result of what is happening, he said that another part of this increase is being generated in Malta and this situation will become worse when the euro replaces the lira.

“With the euro introduction, prices will explode in the coming months and the families’ fear in this regard are justified,” he said.

Dr Sant that it was not true that the Labour Party was criticising everything but it wanted to ensure that the country had an effective strategy against the high cost of living.

The way in which the government signed an agreement with a number of exporters to freeze prices until March, is in itself a mechanism which will push prices up in the coming months.

Prices increased before the signing of this agreement, and this means that after March these prices will reach sky-high, he said.

Referring to the fuel surcharge, Dr Sant reaffirmed that “a new MLP government will cut the surcharge costs by half, as a cost-effective measure to give respite to families and permit them a better quality of life.”

Dr Gonzi’s argument that a decrease in capital expenditure is positive as it leads to better control of the government’s finance, would only make sense if there was control over the recurrent expenditure, Dr Sant said.

“The current expenditure allocated for each project costs twice, and three times more than the original estimate. Not only are these projects finished long after the established timeframe, but they are poorly completed.

“The Mtarfa by-pass project was completed in seven years, and the expenditure rose to Lm1 million more than the original estimate. 25 weeks after its inauguration, it is already badly damaged. A Labour party in government will ensure that such projects are taken seriously.”

Dr Sant said that Urban Development and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett owns an architects’ company with its own offices and employees. The same people own another company of architects, who also work as government consultants on huge projects such as roads and the Manuel Dimech Bridge.

“This project should have been completed by September but work on one side of the bridge has not even started,” he said.

Last week Mr Mugliett leaked to The Times that all the projects planned for the coming year would be completed in May. However, Dr Sant said, by May the general election would be over and in fact the following day The Times reported a correction which said that all the work would be finished by March.

The Labour Party has a regional development plan which includes Bugibba, Qawra, St Paul, and Xemxija, as well as Gozo, and the Southern part of Malta.

“The regional development plan for the Grand Harbour, which covers the area from Kalkara to Sliema, is in the final stages.” Labour’s plan will generate activity and jobs in this area.

“The proposals in the MLP’s A plan for a new Beginning list make sense and for this reason the PN’s counter plan involves a strategy of lies,” Dr Sant added.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told The Sunday Times that Labour opposition members wrote him emails to congratulate him on the budget and when Dr Gonzi denied this, The Sunday Times did not publish a correction. It was only after statement to deny what Dr Gonzi had said was released by all members of the opposition that Dr Gonzi tried to play around with what he had said, Dr Sant said.

The PN media released a story on Saturday which said that according to research they carried out, the Labour Party never gave a donation after a vandal act committed at the Foresta 2000 project in Mellieha.

Dr Sant also quoted from two letters sent from Birdlife, which is in charge of this afforestation project, to MLP general secretary Jason Micallef, to thank him for the cheque of Lm150 as the MLP’s contribution.

Describing PBS as Mandra Malta, Dr Sant said that the national broadcasting station has been manipulated to project the PN in a good light and show the MLP in a sorry state.

He referred to a programme broadcast last week on PBS, where the presenter asked Finance ministry parliamentary secretary Tonio Fenech an estimate of the four proposals issued by the Labour party. This estimate rose to a Lm115 million, a miscalculated estimate of Lm100 million.

“The Labour Party has reviewed these four proposals with prudence and caution and the expenditure is in fact that of Lm15 million.”

Dr Sant also said that PBS is controlled by a group of people who are pushing the PN’s political strategy forward. The fact that it is a national broadcasting station makes it worse than NET TV, who are politically affiliated to the PN.

The MLP leader denied that the opposition party personally attacked Professor Albert Fenech, even though there was a lot to be criticised in relation to the way the first operation at the hospital Tal-Qroqq was carried out.