The Prime Minister’s address during the Nationalist Party’s general council meeting held over the weekend was an opportunity for Dr Lawrence Gonzi to update party councillors – and the public in general – about the reforms that the government embarked upon after being re-elected last March.

In particular, he mentioned the reforms that are being planned in public transport, the rent laws, local councils, the shipyard and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority – all of which, he said, are in the planning stage but which should be up and running in the coming months.

Yet, his main focus was on the two major problems that the country is facing and will continue to face in the near future. The crisis in the international financial systems as well as the need to go for alternative ways of producing energy were the themes that figured most in Dr Gonzi’s address.

One of the government’s pre-election promises was to give greater attention and invest more in alternative sources of energy. At the time, the price of oil had still not reached the record levels it did in the first part of summer ($147 per barrel), only to fall by half that value in the more recent days.

Still, the government, rightly so, feels that it should spend money to invest in other forms of energy that are not based on fossil fuels.

A project that is earmarked to become the first ever wind-farm to be built in Malta is to be officially launched in the coming weeks, if not days, Dr Gonzi said. The government believes that, in spite of the current international situation, it should still go ahead with the idea.

Added to this, the country will be connected to the European electricity grid through a cable laid between Malta and Sicily. This will decrease Malta’s dependability on imported fossil fuels and will enable the exportation of excess electricity produced by wind farms.

The idea is to have the wind farm located at the Sikka l-Bajda area, off the Rdum tal-Madonna in the limits of Mellieha. An environment impact assessment will be carried out to ensure that no harm is done to the environment.

Environmentalists who have been urging the government to go for alternative energy – which is, on the whole, more environment-friendly – should not put unnecessary spokes in the government’s wheels as the project comes to be. Wind farms are considered by many to be an eyesore, but we are either in favour of alternative energy, with all its sacrifices, or we are not.

In his address, Dr Gonzi insisted that the government will go ahead with its plans to remove the capping of industrial utility bills, which he described as a way to promote wastage. This will probably lead to more protests from the industrial sector, in particular from the hotel industry, which has been calling upon the government to review the proposals on the new water and electricity rates.

With the price of oil going down because of lower demands due to the international financial situation, the government should reconsider its position and come up with more reasonable rates than the ones that it has already proposed.

With regard to the international situation, globalisation means that whatever happens will have an effect on each and every country. And therefore, although thanks to the way the local banking system works, Malta has not been strongly hit by the international financial crisis, the ripple effects of such a situation will have an impact.

Last Sunday, Dr Gonzi reminded his audience that Malta went through hard times when he had just taken over as Prime Minister. The situation today is probably worse that it was that time round, and therefore the government must be very careful in the way it handles it.

We cannot afford to take the wrong decisions now.