On 17 November, next Monday, the Finance Minister will give his budget speech. As always happens at this time of the year, Malta and in particular its media, will gear up to cover this event. Political overtones will loom over everyone and everything as each detail is scrutinised by both sides for political gain... understandable, of course. But after the 17th, parliament will be consumed with heavy debate after debate to approve the estimates. The whole event will culminate in speeches in parliament by the two leaders. And by the time it is all done and dusted, we will be heading into December.
In all the hullabaloo, many will forget that the Energy Minister had promised that we would have a new deadline set for the new gas-fired power station. The project is already way off track with it supposedly originally completed within two years of Labour being elected. That should have been March 2015 at the latest.
After much hype, the government had to eventually eat humble pie. It said that a new deadline would be given by the end of November. That is looming very close, and still, there has been not a word on the new date which will be set.
But that is not the only deadline that has been overshot. On our front page today, we feature a news item about the Malta to Gozo link. A Chinese company offered to carry out a feasibility study about a bridge from Malta to Gozo which would not touch Comino. That feasibility study was supposed to be concluded within a year of June 2013. That date has long come and gone. Many MPs have asked Transport Minister Joe Mizzi what the reason for the delay is, and what has happened to the project. He answered that the study has been widened to study more alternatives. This raises more questions than it answers and for the past two weeks, numerous PQs have been filed on the issue. Each time, the Minister issues the same reply.
There have been three major announcements (barring the infamous fuel fixing press conference) that the government have made and not come to fruition. These include the one on the power station, the one on the Gozo land link and the Libyan fuel purchase deal. The PM recently said that the deal was valid and would kick in once Libya ups its oil producing capacity. His Libyan counterpart said (a few weeks ago) that the evaluating committee still needed to decide on the matter. It is clear that weeks later, this is still on the backburner, or has already gone out of the window.
There is no doubt that the government does have the will and the energy to work through its term of office and head into another one. But it must learn that counting one's chickens before they hatch is not a good idea. To then push people's expectations sky high and let them down is a very easy way to lose the support of the electorate. Let's hope that we do begin to see some results soon.