There are plans to completely digitalise all the files in possession of the Lands Authority, a government body that manages public properties, Lands Minister Silvio Schembri said.

Last month, an Auditor General report found that the Lands Authority still relies on physical files and has no database of government-owned land.

Asked about this, Schembri told The Malta Independent on Sunday that when he first adopted the responsibility over the Lands Authority he noted that all the physical files that were stacked on desks “is something of the past and it needed to change”.

“Today with the current system, the information is there, but it is an antiquated system of physical files which takes a substantial amount of time to access.”

He pointed out that the Authority has already begun the process of digitalisation and the majority of applications are inputted digitally immediately.

He said that the next step would be to address the long backlog of physical files which dates back a number of years.

He announced that in the coming weeks, there will be a press conference where updates and details will be given about a process that will work towards digitalising any physical files that were mentioned in the auditor’s report.

The audit’s report also mentioned how there is a lack of enforcement and there is around €4.4m that is owed to the Authority.

In response, he said that the result of that figure stems from measures implemented by the government during Covid-19 that allowed businesses to carry out their payments over a number of years.

“The government was assisting businesses during a difficult time so that as much as possible we do not burden them further.”

He said that the government wanted to give businesses breathing room to pay these dues over a longer period of time. He added that this was not the only instance; there were also similar measures implemented for tax.

The auditor’s report also mentioned how the €4.4m owed dates back to 10 years or more and represents 23% of all its areas.

In response to the report, the Authority said that it has very limited human resources available.

Asked about the lack of human resources, Schembri pointed out how The Malta Independent criticises the government for employing too many people, but then it says that there is a lack of human resources.

In an editorial written by The Malta Independent, this newspaper suggested that “unnecessary jobs should be cut” in the public sector: “The government should conduct a review of all public sector jobs and those jobs that are unnecessary should be cut. After all, this is our taxpayer funds being spent, and such funds should be spent wisely. This is especially the case now when every penny counts. But, of course, from a political standpoint, any government would be highly reluctant to do this.”

Schembri followed by saying that there needs to be a balance to cater for the need of the public sector without disabling the private sector.

He said that he does not believe that the answer is to increase the number of government workers, but it would be to invest in more technology to make the work more efficient.