Most comments regarding the Auditor General’s devastating report about the lands department concentrated on topics related to governance. However there is another matter, perhaps equally important, that features prominently in the same report. It too gives rise to the utmost concern. The administration of the government’s lands and properties is to put it mildly, sloppy and lax.

This certainly did not come about during the last three years. It reflects changes which developed over decades, under successive governments which, let us say, gave scant attention to what was going on. In the cases investigated by the Auditor General, the administrative procedures that were followed were quite opaque. The record covering the preparation of decisions was totally missing or confused. One can assume that the same is true for other cases in the same department, whether scandalous or not.

Now, if the “old style” civil service had one virtue, it was the meticulous manner by which every administrative detail would be registered. With time, this system was dismantled. It is widely acknowledged that the management of government lands is among those most logjammed. The problem became more acute after lands owned by the Church were transferred to government.

What is curious is that this happened in an island where land is considered to be the best asset to hold. It also happened when all governments had the greatest incentive to increase their revenue without needing to raise taxes.

It seems as if over the years there were people who had an interest in letting the management of government properties become slack and lax.

***

Smart City

Could the Maltese public be given an exact account of the situation today at Smart City?

Could such an account include a report about how the situation developed over the years, and this in chronological order?

Could it also include a comparison between what was originally envisaged for the project and what was really accomplished?

Right from the start, so many promises about Smart City were made, so many perspectives were promoted that it is in the national interest for such an account to be published.

It is incomprehensible that it still needs to be carried out.

***

Permits

Bureaucracy is still the order of the day.

Clearly, civilised society must organize a system by which citizens who implement projects that will have an impact on their fellows, have first to obtain permission to go ahead. The process by which permits are issued has to be a transparent one; it also must be efficient and speedy.

Among the defects inherent in our permits system there are the excessive number of permits required to carry out a project, plus the arrangement by which the issue of permits remains subject to the prior issue of other permits.

For instance I was recently assured that you even need a permit in order to divide an internal room in your own home with a gypsum wall.

Meanwhile, Malta is among the European countries where due to the bureaucracy that they must deal with,  businesses waste the most time in trying to launch their new activities.