Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/739032
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2016 15 main goal should be to encourage people to use public transport..." This brings us to the more radi- cal aspects of his proposed reform. Xuereb has long been insisting that Malta needs a railway system to complement the bus service. Given that this would necessitate consid- erable capital outlay, how feasible is this proposal? "It is feasible. But it has to an inte- grated, efficient public transporta- tion system. Otherwise it would be money down the drain. A monorail on its own will not work. My pro- posal is to split Malta into three ar- eas: north, central and south. Each would have an interchange station. In the north I would place it near Mater Dei and the University. An- other station in Marsa, near the site of the proposed business park. The third next to the Dockyard. Buses, on the other hand, will circulate towns and villages, so that people don't have to walk more than five minutes to the nearest stop. Passen- gers would be taken straight, with- out stopping, to the nearest station. Only long routes, like from St Paul's Bay, would make a few stops on the way. Let's make it practical..." It sounds impressive on paper, but is it doable on a financial level? Would the private sector be ready to invest in something like this? "It would have to be subsidised. Public transport is a loss-maker all over the world. The EU, through Horizons 2020, makes large funds available to issues of mobility: and specifically, mobility in towns. So EU funding exists. And we're not talking the same outlay that would be involved in a bridge or tunnel to Gozo. The latest I've heard is 2.5 billion. By my calculations, a mono- rail system wouldn't cost more than half a billion. Closer to 300 million, in fact. The bulk of the expense concerns the stations: lifts, escala- tors, software systems, etc. The ac- tual tunnelling could be done for 55 million. It's less expensive than peo- ple think; unless it's underwater. In fact the only area where it would have to be overhead is Marsa. It would be too expensive to tunnel below sea-level..." But if it is so inexpensive and feasible – as are the other sug- gestions for express routes – how does he account for the fact that all such proposals (not only his own) have fallen on deaf ears? He shrugs. "Ask the politicians. My impression is that in govern- ment, there aren't many people who are technical. So they rely on consultants. Even then, however... do you think the minister actually read this report?" [He indicates the master plan for 2050]. "I don't think he did. He doesn't have the time. That's why you need to get somebody to take ownership. Like permanent secretaries, for instance. Do you ever hear about permanent secretaries? They are supposed to be the ones who run the operations. In my corporation, I have an operations manager... and then there is the board, the general manager, the CEO, etc. In the government's case, we know who the CEO is, but... who is the operations manager? It cannot be the minister himself. His job is to draw up policy. The operations manager has to be technical... someone competent, capable, and who has the guts, determina- tion and knowledge to get the job done. And he has to be adequately remunerated, too. Because that's another problem. If you pay pea- nuts, you get monkeys. If you give meat, you get lions..." So is it a case of government failing to attract the right people? "Partly. It is also because the min- ister always wants to be the one to be seen. If there is a new develop- ment, it will be the minister who announces it. In the eyes of the people, he's the one in charge. So if the permanent secretary feels he doesn't have any importance... he's not going to take ownership. Why should he? Now: if I appoint an operations manager, I would give him clear responsibilities and duties, and a salary to match. I would expect a detailed list of aims and targets… and every year, I would assess how many of them were achieved. If it's 75% per cent... that's good. But if it's less than 50% of his own plan, that's a problem. I'd give him a yellow card for that year... and if it hap- pens again, the red card the next. This is the real problem: there isn't that level of accountability in government." Interview Traffic remains a seemingly insoluble problem in Malta, but entrepreneur ANGELO XUEREB has a good idea why. We spend too much energy on consultancy reports, and too little on action nowhere PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MANGION