'However, the government had to take the necessary decisions so as not to have to introduce tough measures which would be needed if the economy regressed' - PM Joseph Muscat

 

Back in the last legislature we lambasted Gonzi PN for stubbornly raising tariffs when the economic climate and the people's spending power couldn't really take it.  At that time oil prices had shot up and Gonzi  reneged on his promises to keep utility tariffs  low . This particular measure, put in place  then to  safeguard the economy particularly education and pensions (same context used to justify possible Zonqor plundering now)  eventually  led to the fall of PN and  to the creation of   a fantastic electoral  roadmap in the energy sector which , might have been wonderful in wonderland , but is turning out to be  very different in the real world , even if Alice has had her tariff cut. 

 In fact a couple of years on, with oil procurement  and other very costly scandals exposed,   with ARMS Ltd which was a very expensive investment to cut expense and collect more  money  now as costly  as ever,   we can  easily look back and say that if Enemalta  and Water Services governance had been clean  and proper all the way, Gonzi PN wouldn’t have been constrained to inflict austerity when it hurt most, the energy debacle wouldn’t have happened,  PL would be in government anyway ironically   because of its  lovely environmental promises,  and maybe we  people would still  be the proud owners of  a restructured  cleaned up Enemalta with €900 million debt possibly even bought by the public,  since properly run energy companies( and this one has a monopoly)  are known to make money not vanish it , when properly managed that is.

Instead, we have lost sole ownership of Enemalta, only God knows how much precious land, sold away our brand new power station which has not been converted to gas yet,  have a substantial number of Enemalta employees on government payroll because Enemalta’s new bosses did not wish to meet the expense therefore dumped it 100 percent on the Maltese tax payer, been lumped with a consortium which was chosen to build us a new gas fired power station  destroying yet another piece of public owned Delimara, which at the last minute (maybe) demanded €88 million government guarantee to see the project through,  and let us down with timeframes, and  last but not least acquired  the eventuality of a  nightmarishly massive  LNG  depot  in the form of a tanker in Marsaxlokk.

And that is only what we know apart from the  one time €320 million cash injection which bailed us out at the above irreversible cost and was  used to justify all .

Therefore although it is good to cite the necessity of  having an economy strong enough to support health, pensions , stipends   etc, in order to make the people understand that some  decisions are indispensable,  one has to keep in mind that the electorate is now more aware than ever of the excesses of governments and the millions squandered by inadequate , dirty, amoral administrations .

The public is now used to the  inclination of successive governments  media  houses to  stubbornly insist on  persuading  the electorate to pay up for the  profligacy of their governance  by  painting the picture of the destitute vulnerable pensioner  or impoverished student whenever the need arises.

Justifying the  destruction of Zonqor by the necessity of propping up an economy which has grown 4 times the Eurozone average is outright  loony. 

Even if God forbid, the books are cooked (unlikely because I trust Scicluna) , and things are not as rosy  as they seem, plundering such an idyllic spot will  certainly detract from Malta's uniqueness,  which in turn will make our islands less appealing to tourists , which in turn would have a negative economic impact which cannot be outweighed by the building of a university of sorts. 

Then there is the healthcost of asphyxiating the only remaining green lung in the area, there is the economic cost of the infrastructure we have to build and maintain from taxpayers' money to support the project, water resource  etc.

In short the  list of economic costs that result from  developing a green area is never ending and hugely increased now that our island is choking with development, inundated with traffic and grossly overpopulated.

What's more, burying  the fields of Zonqor under layers of concrete will inflict final and irreversible damage to our land with  the result of incalculable losses.

I don't think this government is crazy enough to create its own Titanic. If it wants the economy to really grow, it should tackle the issue of the growing poverty in our country, by  nipping  at the bud this phenomenon of taking from the many to enrich the few. A proper distribution of  wealth created from honest, hard , productive, fairly paid work  can be  a good start,  as will resuscitating its moribund environmental credentials .
If it dismisses the electorate's  deep concern for the environment as frivolous indulgence, this government would be placing itself on a runaway tread mill to extinction.