From Mr E. Privitera

In 1952 I was a young lad of 14 but already interested in politics. I remember quite vividly reading in an election programme of the Partit Nazzjonalista at that time, the promise that a PN government would rebuild the former Royal Opera House in Valletta.

The PN kept making this promise right up to 2003 – 51 years later. Around two years ago, the PN government announced that they had decided against going ahead with their plans to rebuild the Opera House, after spending hundreds of thousands of liri preparing plans and models. Instead they decided to place a few hundred seats (painted blue, of course!) in the ruins of the old opera house, perhaps hoping that tourists entering Valletta through City Gate might believe that the ruins they see must date back to Roman times!

This time Dr Gonzi said that the rebuilding would be financed from public funds which, according to the Prime Minister, will cost Lm15 million. With its track record of ending up spending double the original estimate of big projects – Mater Dei being the exception because it cost almost three-and-a-half times its original estimate of Lm87 million – if, and this is a big if, the PN were to be re-elected, the rebuilding of the Opera House would end up costing Maltese taxpayers around Lm30 million. And God only knows how many years it will take them to complete it!

It is opportune to remind readers of Dr Gonzi’s words a couple of months ago, when he said: “Do not judge us on what we say, judge us on what we do”. This is what the majority of voters will be doing on this latest promise by the PN, namely, that a PN government will rebuild the Opera House, despite having promised to do just that since 1952.

So what Dr Gonzi is saying now will be ignored because people have been told by the same Dr Gonzi not to judge the PN on what they do. And they haven’t done anything (except spend hundreds of thousands of liri on useless plans) on the Phantom of the Opera House since 1952!

Eddy Privitera

MOSTA