Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1080741
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 FEBRUARY 2019 NEWS BENEFIĊĊJU MSAĦĦAĦ TAL-KERA 22991000 HOUSING AUTHORITY OFFICES, 22, PIETRO FLORIANI STREET, FLORIANA Persuna Waħedha Żewġ Adulti mingħajr tfal Ġenitur wieħed b'wild wieħed Koppja b'wild wieħed Koppja b'żewġ ulied jew akter € 14,700 € 19,000 € 19,050 € 23,800 € 28,600 € 1,600 € 1,900 € 2,000 € 2,000 € 2,000 € 3,600 € 3,600 € 4,800 € 4,800 € 5,000 € 2,000 € 1,700 € 2,800 € 2,800 € 3,000 DĦUL MASSIMU TA' SUSSIDJU LI SETGHET TIEĦU MASSIMU MILL- BENEFIĊĊJU ĠDID DIFFERENZA + MATTHEW VELLA THE acquisition of Maltese telecommunications com- pany GO plc by Tunisie Tel- ecom in 2016 is to be debated in the Tunisian parliament, as MPs will debate whether the company was controversially dumped by Emirates Interna- tional Telecommunications (EIT). The commission for ad- ministrative reform, good governance, the fight against corruption and control of public funds, will be hearing Tunisian communications minister Anouar Maarouf. "The affair set people talk- ing at the time," reports Maghreb Confidential about the sale of GO by EIT – which happens to have a 35% stake in Tunisie Telecom and from which it had been considering disengaging for several years. "Some suspect, therefore, that the Emirati operator, whose representatives at Tu- nisie Telecom were directly involved in the GO transac- tion, of having used the 65% state-owned Tunisian opera- tor to rid itself of a company which had become a burden for it. Observers were sur- prised at the time by Tunisie Telecom's decision to invest in an already saturated Mal- tese market." The 4 March hearing will be chaired by an MP who be- longs to the same party as the minister, the Ennahda party. Chairman Monia Brahim plans to invite former Tunisie Telecom chairman and chief executive Nizar Bouguila and former telecommunications minister Noomane Fehri, the latter belonging to the Afek Tounes party which left the government coalition, and has been waging an offensive against Ennahda since then. GO plc also has a stake in Greek telco Forthnet, which recently saw the four banks that hold a 32.7% stake in it increase it to 36%. The banks are Piraeus Bank, National Bank, Alpha Bank and Attica Bank. They increased their stake after Forthnet issued a number of common nominal convertible bonds. It remains to be seen how the adjusted shareholding will impact on the banks' at- tempt to sell Forthnet. In October 2018, a consortium comprising domestic telcos Wind Hellas and Vodafone submitted a formal offer to acquire the telco, with a rival offer submitted by Antenna Group. While the banks are understood to favour the Wind-Vodafone offer, further negotiations are now likely to be required. EIT sale of GO plc to be heard in Tunisian parliament AD: roads projects causing further congestion ALTERNATTIVA Demokratika has complained that ongoing in- frastructural projects aimed at decreasing traffic congestion will actually exacerbate traffic. Referring to the government's Central Link Project, a €55 mil- lion upgrade of 4km of roads in a bid to half travel time between Mriehel and Mosta by 50%, AD leader Carmel Cacopardo said several studies conducted in for- eign countries concluded that the widening of roads for car use would incentivise vehicles and eventually increase congestion. "The Central Link Project will do just that as interventions to limit traffic congestion should not be limited to infrastructural changes to cater for vehicles… It is not even necessary. A trans- port strategy approved in 2016 showed that the majority of people use their cars for trips not longer than 15 minutes," Cacopardo said, insisting that if the government invests in better cycling strategies and alterna- tive transport, cars would not be used in the majority of these trips. Cacopardo was joined by Ralph Cassar, AD secretary general, and Mina Tolu, AD MEP can- didate, at a press conference in Attard. "If people realise that they can get from point A to point B with ease and without the use of a car, they will buy into it. If the govern- ment keeps investing in projects that encourage car use, widening of roads that could otherwise be used for cycling, then obviously more people would use more cars," Cacopardo said.