Louis Fenech – Selling the Malta Shipyards (TMID July 4) – wrote about the ‘shameful act by irresponsible administrators of other people’s property’, but he offered no alternatives.

Instead he went on to educate us by stating that in the glorious 1970s and 1980s the Labour administration left Lm400 million and another Lm70 million in the nation’s coffers.

What he neglected to state, maybe a case of amnesia, is that in the 1970s and 1980s water was being distributed by tankers since nothing came out of the taps and when it did the colour was brown. This was due to constantly shutting down the water supply in order to preserve the very little that was available. The result was that major water pipes had to be replaced by subsequent Nationalist administrations.

People complain today if the electricity supply is interrupted by a few hours due to cable and other faults. In the 1980s interruptions were much longer since faults, besides the unavoidable cable faults, generally resulted from a poorly maintained Marsa Power Station which had been converted from oil to cheap coal and whose capacity was scraping 100 per cent all the time.

With the tourist industry steadily heading for a boom, it was necessary to build a new airport in order to be able to handle the larger number of tourists who, until the new terminal was finished, were welcomed in a substandard glorified shed which the old airport had reduced itself into.

People were fed up of having to wait two years or more to obtain a simple telephone and when service was provided very often one had to cut in someone else’s conversation since the archaic system was one huge party line. A new digital system was installed at considerable cost and since then, service became available in a matter of days.

The Nationalist governments which succeeded the disastrous Labour of 1971-1987 rectified all the above with new infrastructure which cost much more than the Lm400 million which Labour left in the coffers while leaving the public in the lurch.

Mr Fenech also negatively remarked about the sale of Mid-Med bank and Sea Malta. This is absolutely astounding since both are doing very well, thank you, since privatisation. Add to those two, several others which now employ more workers while preserving the jobs of former employees of parastatal entities.

How easy it is to criticise while enjoying the view from the opposition’s side who must remember that a government, democratically elected is expected to govern and to govern is to lead and not be tempted to go half way in order to appease those who see nothing right in what it is doing. Half way measures usually end up costing much more in the end.

The privatisation of the Shipyards is a must unless of course, it is all right with Mr Fenech, that the Lm1,100 million national debt he was complaining about, increases by more subsidies / grants / assistance, which all of a sudden become so agreeable to him.

Joe Martinelli

London, Ontario

Canada