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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 OCTOBER 2015 6 News TIM DIACONO A corporation is to be set up to re- generate St George's Bay in St Ju- lian's, Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat announced. Addressing a press conference in Castille ahead of Monday's Budget, Muscat warned that three planned projects around the popular bay – development at Villa Rosa, the conversion of the Corinthia and the Radisson into a six star hotel, and a third unnamed one – will create chaos if not coordinated properly. "It's a popular location and we can't allow it to become a construc- tion site for six years, with the three private consortiums each going its own way," he said. "The corpora- tion will ensure synergy between the developments, and proper traf- fic and drainage management." He pinpointed St George's Bay, Paceville and Bugibba as three popular touristic locations in need of an infrastructural upgrade. "Malta is projected to welcome an annual average of two million tourists in the near future, which is no joke," he said. "If we truly want to improve our touristic product, we need an overhaul in our infra- structure for it to reach European standards, and we cannot dump all responsibility onto local councils. "I hope the first step will be an- nounced in the upcoming Budg- et." 'Underground proposal being taken seriously' When asked whether an under- ground train system is being taken seriously as a possible remedy to Malta's notorious traffic problem, Muscat confirmed that the govern- ment is "seriously exploring several such proposals". With regards more short-term so- lutions, he said that a pilot 'tidal lane' system will be introduced in Aldo Moro Road in Marsa, whereby three of the road's four lanes will open to south-bound traffic in the morning, with the reverse holding true in the evening. He also reiterated his plans to im- prove ferry connections between Sliema, Valletta and the Three Cit- ies. "We want the ferry to become an obvious choice for harbour commut- ers, and if it picks on, it will decrease traffic substantially." An 'intelligent traffic system' is still in the works. Through this system, cameras will monitor the island and send warning messages to drivers about which roads are traffic-heavy, hence allowing them to plan alter- native routes. However, its imple- mentation has been held up because a losing bidder has filed for a court injunction. Deficit target of 1.6% on track In a brief speech, finance minis- ter Edward Scicluna said that the government is on track to reach a deficit of 1.6% of Malta's GDP by the end of the year, resulting from a decrease of €69 million in the deficit. Toasting the results, Muscat said his government managed to slash the deficit by 2% in three years, without introducing aus- terity measures. Channelling former US Presi- dent John F Kennedy, he said that "the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining" and that the government must now take advantage of the current economic growth to address problems related to infrastruc- ture, pensions, education, and the working poor. WIN a copy of the newly launched book Wild Flowers of the Maltese Island To win a copy of this unique book tick the right answers: Tick the names of Maltese wild plants? ❒ Maltese fleabane ❒ Sulla ❒ Giant Fennel ❒ Frog Orchid ❒ King protea Send your answers by 15 October to: MediaToday, WIN A BOOK FROM BDL Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann By Edwin Lanfranco & Guido Bonett published by BDL St Vincent de Paul excluded from elderly care home standards TIM DIACONO A new set of national minimum standards for old people's homes will not apply to St. Vincent de Paul, despite it housing around 1,200 long-term elderly resi- dents. Explained in an annex at the back page of the standards docu- ment, a 'care home' is defined as a "house or other premises estab- lished for the express purpose of caring for an housing older per- sons, whether for reward or not, excluding the St Vincent de Paul long term care facility, which is a sui generis [stand-alone] facil- ity." When asked to explain this anomaly, parliamentary secretary for the elderly Justyne Caruana explained that Malta's largest elderly home is not just a nursing home, but also provides hospital services. "In recent decades, St. Vincent de Paul has been transformed from an institution to a long-term care facility that meets most of the functions that are generally attributed to geriatric hospitals," Caruana told MaltaToday. "These include medical serv- ices, dentistry, nursing, physi- otherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, speech language thera- py and pharmaceutical services. "Hence it is best treated as a 'sui generis' facility rather than as a 'care home' in the strict sense of the word. "This was proposed and agreed by experts during consultation stage about the complex social and health care needs arising from the increasing life expect- ancy in Malta." However, a spokesperson for the Foundation for Active Age- ing (FXAM) – the elderly rights NGO that had drafted the origi- nal standards – insisted that the Marsa home is primarily a resi- dential home and not a hospital. "Many homes to which the standards will apply provide some degree of nursing care, and indeed are also 'long-term care facilities' since most of their resi- dents will remain there until they die." 'Exemptions to minimum room size only in exceptional cases' The standards, which all elderly homes will have to adopt by 2025, also specify the minimum size re- quirements for bedrooms. Specifically, each single room must have at least 12 square me- tres of usable space, while any new double rooms must allot at least 8 square metres of usable space per resident. The FXAM – who has hailed the standards as "a major milestone in the evolution of Malta's wel- fare state" – are concerned about a potential loophole with regards shared bedrooms in pre-existing homes. The standard says that, in such cases "at least 8 square metres [for each resident in shared rooms] shall be made available within a maximum of 10 years… as long as premises' structural parameters permits." Similarly, a standard requiring homes to provide at least one as- sisted bath to no more than five residents, states that non-com- pliant homes must "meet this re- quirement within a maximum of 10 years as long as premises' struc- tural parameters permits". "Our concern is that, at least after 10 years from now, no older per- son will any longer be confined to a pokey cupboard-sized bedroom, nor have to share rooms where the residents' beds are so close they can hold hands, and bathroom fa- cilities are used by so many." When questioned, Caruana ex- plained that those two standards would only be exempted in "ex- ceptional cases", to homes whose perimeters disallow further struc- tural change. "I am positive that most care homes are characterised by struc- tural perimeters that allow the extension of bedrooms and bath- rooms, and where needed, care homes will certainly implement the necessary architectural struc- tural changes so that the standards will be met," she said. tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Hospital services at Malta's largest elderly home allow its exemption from new national standards for old people's homes New corporation will manage St George's regeneration St. Vincent de Paul is home to some 1,200 long-term elderly residents