Do you recall the famous buzz words like 'taghna lkoll', 'meritokrazija', 'accountability', 'trasparenza', 'Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox' ? As you will undoubtedly know they have all been used and abused and mercilessly flushed down the drain.

But lo and behold, the Labour Party has now discovered a new buzzword - 'Quality'. Wow! We shall now be listening to this new buzz word ad nauseam, at least till the next budget by which time it will probably receive an upgrade to 'exceptional quality' ! 

Rest assured that from now on everything will remain the same and nothing new will happen. In reality matters will get worse.

In what way do you expect the recently announced budget to improve and solve the ailing health system, the stagnant education system, overpopulation and over tourism, traffic jams, the crippling environment and air quality, the garbage, sewage and power issues? How will this budget convince youngsters to pursue their life and career in Malta?

How will this budget shake and awake the planning authority and convince them to start planning?

Will this budget convince the Planning Authority to carry out the much needed carrying capacity exercise, in order to determine just how far the country's expansion can go before it collapses under the strain of its own weight?

There is no doubt whatsoever that the country's population and tourism numbers are going to increase in leaps and bounds in an uncontrolled and unplanned manner. The enormous projects that are being constructed and others that shall be constructed must be populated otherwise they will fail. The population that these projects will attract will undoubtedly be made up of thousands of foreign residents, foreign workers and tourists!

Projects like the DB, the Xuereb tower, the Villa Rosa, the Sliema towers, the Gzira towers, the Quad and other large developments will and must attract thousands of people to Malta, both on a residential and tourist basis. 

So if you feel that today you are suffocating, tomorrow you will be choking. Forget about an improvement in the quality of living.

Local Councils

If the government really wants to improve the quality of one's well being, then it must start by assisting local councils to increase and improve the quality of the services that they offer. Local councils are the first point of reference for residents, the entities which can help to improve and care for the environment in their locality.

But instead of respecting and strengthening local councils, central government has severely weakened, systematically crushed and intentionally disarmed local councils.

Whereas the PM assured us that the future is bright, rest assured that at this rate the future may be bright only for the developers and certain businesses who feast on overpopulation and consumption but certainly not for the majority of residents.

So long to a better quality of life. 

Noel Muscat is mayor of Swieqi