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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2014 24 Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. The Prime Minister's declaration that 967 doors were ordered for the newly designed hospital when 464 feature on plans has re-ignited the controversy on the Mater Dei hospital. This revelation further alarms citizens already concerned about the spiraling costs of the project, origi- nally, estimated to add up to Lm83 million Malta Liri, run- ning to date at Lm129.2 million and forecast at a final cost of Lm200 million. These figures do little to enhance public trust in the way tax-payers money is being spent. The cost overruns controversy and its implications are far too serious to be left out of the public domain. Government must lift the lid over the project. It must take the people in its confidence. The professional way forward is an objective and dispassionate assessment of all the estimated costs and the cost overruns to date. The taxpayer is correct to ask why the project costs have more than doubled. Why is that what was originally planned to be a specialised hospital has been converted into a general hospital for the whole country? When was that decisions taken? Is there a clear decision as to what is to be done with St Luke's? What is the role of the Foundation of Medical studies in the project? Who carries the can? Who is to be held responsible and accountable for the project? Too many questions remain unknown and to date there has been no public declaration of all the facts and costs. The whole matter calls for a calm discussion in Parlia- ment on the way forward with all relevant documents being placed on the table of the House. This discussion should analyse the wisdom of having a specialised hospital. There should be an analysis of the original projected costs. Did it make sense in 1997 under a Labour Government to in- crease the size and the number of beds at the hospital? Was the decision to limit the involvement of Skanska correct? Was the contract signed by the Nationalist Government in the year 2000 sufficiently well drafted to safeguard the interest of the taxpayer? Should Skanska have been given control on the design, construction and project manage- ment? Should these different skills not have been parceled out to different companies? Is the contract now a source of controversy simply because of its content being subject to interpretation? These and many other questions need to be answered and preferably in a no holds barred parliamen- tary debate. The hemorrhage this project is causing to the public finances necessitates that the proverbial bull is taken by the horns jointly by both political leaders working together in the national interest. The Prime Minister should renew his call to the Leader of the Opposition to work together and take him into his confidence. The matter could be far too damaging to the long-term interests of the country for Dr Sant to refuse. By accepting to work together the credibility of the Opposition will be enhanced. By taking a back seat position the Opposition will be sacrificing the national interest to favour a narrow Party interest. That would be neither good statesmanship, nor politically wise. The Prime Minister is right to publicly demand full control over the costs incurred and yet to be incurred. He must however be reminded that cost overruns took place when he served as the deputy Prime Minister and no bouts of amnesia will erase his involvement. He too carries responsibility for the project as do all members of Cabinet who are collectively responsible. Does this project still come under the Health minister's portfolio? The Mother of God only knows! Has the Minister been sidelined by the Prime Minister? Is the project now fully under the Prime Minister's caring? The public has a right to know. Alfred Sant must also bear his share of responsibility for taking the decision to enlarge the hospital and to con- vert it into a General hospital during his months in office although he consistently stated that Skanska should never have been given full control over the whole project. Time has clearly shown that granting total control to Skanska and entering a cost plus agreement was an error. In the final analysis who is responsible for this Project? Can the right honourable Minister or Ministers please stand up? The project is a contributing cause to the public deficit. Just imagine what a lower deficit and interest fi- nancing the country would be running without this project of projects! It could only have been conceived and later expanded in a moment of delirium. It is in the public inter- est that all expenditure is explained and the entire project opened to public scrutiny. Open the hospital project to public scrutiny Editorial • October 10 2004 Maltese researchers discover new Chigger species in Sardinia The Sardinian Wall Lizard Chigger, Lacertacus sardi- niensis, is a parasitic species new to science just recently described from the endemic Tyrrhenian Wall Lizard. The author, who has been studying herpetofauna (the study of reptiles and amphib- ians) for several years, has been observing this and similar species, parasitizing externally a number of herpetofaunal species. In a scientific study published in the 'International Journal of Acarology' the author and his colleagues published the finding and the description of this previously unknown species, including a new species for the Maltese Islands (Sand and Wall Lizard Chigger, Ericotrom- bidium caucasicum, that differs slightly from other known speci- mens. The latter species in the same study was found new to Lipari and Alicudi (Aeolian Islands, Sicily, Italy). Very little is known on the biology of the latter species except that its preferred host locally is the Endemic Maltese Wall Lizard. In 2012 the same authors, ie Sciberras and Pflie- gler along with Bertrand, published the findings of another new species to science (Esther's Gecko Mite Geck- obia estherae) exclusively endemic to the Maltese Islands. The species to date was only found in one locality locally on its quite widespread host and therefore it is not only a new Maltese record and new to science but a localised endemic. The species was named in honour of Mrs Esther Sciberras for her continu- ous assistance to the author in the study of natural history. In the same study, another species of mite (G. latastei) was found new for the Maltese islands. The latter species has quite a vast Mediterra- nean distribution. This scientific work was published in the journal 'Acarolo- gia'. Arnold Sciberras, President, Malta Herpetological Society I make reference to what I said during the 14 July 2014 episode of Reporter, broadcast on TVM by PBS. I would like to clarify that when I said that the issuing of MEPA permits was not dependent on laws and regulations but on the power of the developer and their archi- tect, and that the Seabank Hotel broke every rule in the book, I had no intention of disparaging Sea- bank Hotel and Catering Limited (C40319) and/its directors Silvio Debono, Victoria Debono, Robert Debono and Arthur Gauci. I recognize that the Mepa permit for the new Seabank Hotel build- ing was issued on its own merit and that the site of the building was identified in the Local Plan as being earmarked for touristic development opportunities. The decision to issue the permit was solely Mepa's responsibility and not that of Seabank Hotel and Ca- tering Limited or its directors. I would like to apologise to Silvio Debono, Victoria Debono, Robert Debono and Arthur Gauci for any inconvenience or damage I may have caused. Astrid Vella - Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar Coordinator No evidence of Divine mercy In the midst of the daily trag- edies we read about in the news, religious believers are strangely silent about their "loving and merciful" God. The God they believe in is not merciful when these tragedies occur. He didn't save the 700,000 precious lives claimed by earth- quakes in the past decade (as reported in the media, Novem- ber 7, 2011). God did not spare the lives of thousands of Africans who suc- cumbed to the Ebola virus. Nor did His "infinite" mercy save the lives of 50 million people who perished in the 1918-9 "Span- ish" f lu pandemic, the deadliest pandemic in human history. When Christians are con- fronted with these disasters, they absolve their personal God of any responsibility whatsoever. They blame nature, which was "created" by God in the first place! In the final analysis, the "buck" stops at God's "desk"! He is accountable for the deaths and disasters that result from the operations of His handiwork. When it suits them, Christians tell us that God does not inter- vene in human affairs. He allows hundreds of migrants to drown at sea and children to be mauled to death by vicious dogs. As novelist Ian McEwan told an audience at Stanford University in 2007: "The believers should know in their hearts by now that, even if they are right and there actually is a personal God, He is a reluctant intervener, as all the daily tragedies, including the death of children, attest. The rest of us, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, know that it is highly improbable that there is anyone up there at all." John Guillaumier Sliema Download the MaltaToday App now MEPA permits and Seabank Hotel