Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/252940
YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT Newspaper post maltatoday SUNDAY • 2 FEBRUARY 2014 • ISSUE 743 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.20 Download the MaltaToday App now HELENA DALLI INTERVIEW PGS 12-13 FULL STORY • PAGE 3 State moves in to take control of local wardens No cash for local council! 'Cabinet waived Freeport's 750K fee' MIRIAM DALLI A €750,000 contribution that Malta Freeport had to pay for dredging works carried out and sanctioned by MEPA, were waived by the Cabinet in the summer of 2012 – leaving Birze- bbugia local council unable to ac- cess the cash it was supposed to use from MEPA's urban improve- ment fund. MaltaToday can reveal that the Birzebbugia local council were made aware that the funds were no longer available last Decem- ber, 18 months after the cabinet decision. In 2010, the executive chairman at MEPA, Austin Walker, had confirmed that the Freeport was obliged to pay the €750,000 'plan- ning gain fee' – a compensation for works it carried out which destabilised the nearby environ- ment of the area. But in 2012, when the parlia- mentary secretary for the envi- ronment was Mario de Marco, the Cabinet took a decision to have the contribution of €750,000 by Malta Freeport waived in view of the container terminal's contri- bution to the country's economy. Thrifters One man's trash is another man's treasure February 2014 - Issue 50 www.vida.com.mt Thrifters One man's trash is another man's treasure February 2014 - Issue 50 February 2014 - Issue 50 www.vida.com.mt Thrifters One man's trash is another man's treasure YOUR FREE COPY OF VIDA INSIDE Three years ago, Joseph Muscat said he would stand up to the 'subsidised racket' of local enforcement, warning the 'big fi sh' running the game that their days were numbered THE running of Malta's local enforcement sys- tem has become too costly to keep up with the expectations of the two private companies which provide Malta's and Gozo's 44 local councils with wardens, CCTV cameras, and speed cameras, and the only way it can survive is to issue more tickets and collect more fines. But Labour seems to be living up to a warning sounded by Joseph Muscat in 2011 that the "sub- sidised racket" of local enforcement would no longer be tolerated under a new governmnet. Yesterday, parliamentary secretary for local government José Herrera unveiled plans for a new centralised unit to take over the manning of local wardens. Herrera has pledged a 30% reduction in costs - a reduction that industry insiders deduce can only be achieved by cutting out the private sector. But the parliamentary secretary said that to- day's system was built on the misleading assump- tion that it should make money for local councils when in reality, uncollected fines and a decline in contraventions and speeding offences being committed, has rendered the system unsustain- ble to run. Herrera's solution will be to turn the LES into a national unit of wardens serving councils, rather than the private operators taking over 70% of the total fines issued over the years. JURGEN BALZAN AND MATTHEW VELLA Continues page 4 PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD Parliamentary secrtary for local councils José Herrera and private secretary Charlon Gouder launch the White Paper for local enforcement reform 'I can't visit my father's grave', says daughter of 1990 Esmeralda shipwreck victim Family of John Schembri, who perished in the tragic shipwreck of the Esmeralda, wants his body exhumed from his Linosa resting place to confirm his identity and conclude a 24-year-old investigation PGS 6-7