Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/478858
23 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 MARCH 2015 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. Gzira bus lane - Transport Ministry in the dark! Good news for Qala now, not later Sustainable local councils Many laws are ineffective It is unbelievable that the Minis- try for Transport introduces new measures – such as the new bus lane in Gzira – without having the necessary data to back such measures. If the ministry does not know how many people use the buses between Sliema and the Strand in Gzira, how did it decide to dedi- cate one lane solely for buses, and throughout the whole day? If Transport Malta were led by competent people, the first thing that it should have done, would have been to determine the number of people who use the buses between Sliema and Gizira, every hour of every working day, and every hour on Saturdays and Sundays. It is on the basis of such data that a decision could have been taken on whether it would be appropriate to dedicate a bus lane along the Strand in Gzira, and for which hours and days. The blanket decision to intro- duce a dedicated bus lane in Gzira for all hours of the day reveals the incompetence of the people taking such a decision. Have these decision-makers considered other alternatives? As a minimum, have they considered introducing a bus lane for the peak hours only? Have these decision-makers ever heard of an alternative lane, whereby a lane changes direction according to the flow of traffic, leaving two lanes for general traf- fic in the appropriate direction? The decision to take a lane and dedicate it to buses is not accept- able to car owners and drivers. Cars do not hold up buses. Most of the time it is the other way round. Everybody moves along about the same speed. Both private cars and buses are stuck in traffic. Transport Malta should conduct a study for a traffic signal priority programme that would allow buses the green light, which could speed bus travel. In the present circumstances, the Ministry for Transport is proceeding blindly without the required data, and it is rendering a disservice to both passengers of buses and private car owners and drivers. Alfred A. Farrugia H'Attard It is usual for good news items to hit the news before elections, and Qala is no exception – what with the recent road resurfacing in front of the council offices, the repaving of the square, and the opening of the Folk Museum. So why aren't Labour taking the op- portunity before the upcoming local elections to announce 'good news' about Hondoq in the form of the long awaited DPAR report? Two years ago the Prime Minister stated the Labour party was against the project. A year ago Gozo Minister Refalo stated there would be no build- ing whatsoever at Hondoq. If the report is against the proposed development, as are the majority of recommendations, and 85% of the residents of Qala – now would be just the time to announce such good news, before the elections. However, it has been decided once again to delay the announcement until afterwards, which doesn't bode well. Surely now is the time to allow MEPA to release their report? Barry Wilson Ghajnsielem The National Audit Office recently published the Auditor General's report on the workings of local government for 2013. The following main common short- comings were noted: Accounting records do not reflect a true and fair view of the actual finan- cial situation. Income and expenses were accounted incorrectly. Some payments have been made without proper invoice and/or fiscal receipt. Certain categories of expenditure have exceeded their budgets. It is understood that there are many shortcomings in the way local councils are actually run financially. Taking as an example the local council of Qormi, for which I will be a candidate on behalf of Alternattiva Demokratika: the local council has ended its financial year of 2013 with a loss, as it did in the previous year. The local council's website does not show any financial or budget reports, only sitting minutes. This is not ac- ceptable. The electorate needs to be able to monitor budgeting, to be able to see how the allocated funds have been or are going to be spent. Contracts with the local council should also be published for the sake of transparency. Furthermore as in the case of Qormi (which is not unique), the electorate would like to know how the accumu- lated debts will be settled. One of my prerogatives as an elected councillor will be to provide full transparency on the financial running of the council, publishing all relevant information on the local council's web- site, and not only in Maltese but also in English for voting expatriates. Fur- thermore I will work on the reduction of the financial deficit, I will insist on financial responsibility and insist that the local council does not engage in works or projects which are financially unsustainable. Henrik Piski Qormi In olden times there were many thieves. Many laws were imple- mented, such as prison sentences, forced work on ships, exile, and even death. Cases of severe pun- ishments are documented for peo- ple who stole just a loaf of bread. However the number of thieves remained high because the root of the problem was not dealt with. Then somebody thought of social services and the number of thieves went drastically down. There was another outbreak of thieves when drugs were made illegal. That's why I believe that drugs should be decriminalised but made anti- social by continuous campaigns in this regard. At present there is a move- ment against hunting, which wants to get its way by enacting laws. I think that to accomplish a permanent change one should first see what the problem is. Young hunters may enjoy hunting because they have happy memories of hunting in the company of their loved ones. So instead of passing prohibitory laws one should try to break this generational solidarity where hunting comes in and intro- duce something else instead. I would suggest that hunters who encourage their children to take up some other hobby would be rewarded by having their hunting fee halved. Established hunters who join the skeet shooters instead of going hunting, should be re- warded, maybe by money donated by environmentalists. The same argument could be ap- plied to people who are against the eating of meat. Instead of trying to convince everybody to become vegetarian they should militate so that meat grown in the lab without the slightest visage of the nervous system would become affordable and plentiful but there are many vested interests to keep this idea back. Many laws are effective, not because they are enforced – that would need a dictator and huge savage police and army forces – but because by far, the large magnitude of the populace agree with their need. Josephine Gatt-Ciancio Kalkara