Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/920426
maltatoday SUNDAY 31 DECEMBER 2017 4 News Nationalisation of the public transport service Malta's experience with public transport soured when a momen- tous decision was taken to liberal- ise a bus network that was run by a cooperative of bus owner-drivers and uncouth employees. Millions were spent to get rid of over 500 creaky bangers that ran the routes, some as early as the 1960s, for a fleet of cleaner Euro-V engines. The idea was to revise the bus routes and lower operational costs, and by extension, state subsidies. But in a bid to make the new routes profitable, less buses, the addition of the maligned bendy-bus and longer routes were devised to pick up more passengers. The Arriva disaster was taxing on the nation: a 40c trip had now be- come a €1.50 trip that took ages to arrive at its destination, prompting the prime minister to create a task force to manage the chaos. Not only that: state subsidies increased from €10 million in 2010, to €26.7 million in 2016. Nationalisation can be unpopular for an electorate that in the 1990s was trained to de- test state-owned corporatism. But for public services and goods like Maltese public transport, turn- ing a profit can be hard (not all routes are patronised as much as the commuter and tourism-heavy 'Sliema-Valletta' routes). So if mil- lions are paid by taxpayers to sub- sidise a profit-making service, why not make it the State's business to run it in the first place? Referenda on local plans and scheduling Labour was elected to power in 2013 with an unclear stand on the environment and planning, ex- cept for its dedicated pro-business mantra. That mantra clashed with Malta's delicate environmental balance. Lawrence Gonzi read the gripes of the electorate in 2008 and vowed to keep outside development zones free of any development, and reformed the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. Labour charged ahead with the subtlety of a chainsaw: it unleashed a series of regula- tions to open the floodgates to rural construction for agri-tour- ism holdings, high-rise projects, and massive fuel stations outside development zones. It then de- merged MEPA's planning and environment arms, rendering the Environment and Resources Au- thority a toothless appendage, and the Planning Authority an instru- ment directed from the highest political authority. To battle the PA's control on policy-making, more decentralisa- tion has to occur. It should be local councils and their electorates that determine how Maltese towns and villages should look, allowing them a decisive hand on what local plans can and cannot allow, to limit de- velopments and conserve urban cores and keep rural areas free of construction, and even to propose the scheduling of houses to retain Malta's streetscapes. A moratorium on ODZ and high- rise Malta's virulent pro-business drive is clearly short-sighted. Quality of life cannot be bought with money. The Planning Au- thority has yet to formalise a na- tional master plan for high-rise buildings, but policies have already been issued and in the case of the Paceville masterplan, land allo- cated for that purpose before the master plan was even finalised. Al- ready we are on familiar territory: businesses busy churning out pro- posals for high-rise and land recla- mation, at a time when a national policy has yet to be formulated. The primary consideration here is the "monetisation" of the coast- line for speculative purposes. The Labour government seems to be treating Malta's scarcest resource – its land – as a 'salotto buono': it is catering for the whims of Malta's most ambitious businessmen, who are being gifted public land for their own private investments. For an opposition that can truly capture the anger provoked by the pro-construction drive from the Labour government, it must be able to shift the emphasis to the environment, and abide by an ODZ-is-ODZ rule to safeguard Malta's countryside. Full-time MPs and scrutiny of top posts In 2014, Joseph Muscat used the State's coffers to keep backbench- ers happy with additional salaries for jobs apart from their normal 'part-time' parliamentarian attend- ance in the House from Monday to Wednesday. Apart from their sal- ary of €20,604 for their part-time parliamentary work, an unprec- edented number of backbenchers were given political appointments – chairman of this quango, CEO of that agency – and a hefty wage increase. Backbenchers are not normally given political appointments; how- ever, Lawrence Gonzi had appoint- ed nine parliamentary assistants in 2012 in a bid to appease the rebels within his party. This move had come at the height of internal strife within the PN which threatened Gonzi's razor-thin one-seat ma- jority (the then Labour opposition had lambasted the appointments which cost the taxpayer €175,119 in 2012 alone). The pitfalls of the part-time MPs are obvious when, apart from re- taining their private practices, they are given additional token posi- tions serving the government to bolster their incomes. Only a full- time MP free of any conflicts aris- ing from personal professional and pecuniary interest can carry out the duty without fear or favour. In turn, they can render a greater service by being entrusted with committee hearings of political appointees on State entities, heads of departments and government companies and agencies, and other commissioners or State appointees – a rolling scrutiny of top decision- makers and executives that could go far in establishing a better de- gree of accountability. Full information on property prices In 'perfect competition' where firms are selling an identical prod- uct, buyers must have complete information on the product being sold and the prices charged by each firm. In the tourism market, trans- parent pricing and online technol- MATTHEW VELLA In 2018 • What should the Opposition do Eight ideas Could these proposals be a blueprint for an Opposition with a radical response to Labour? Bann for Curators Republic of Malta To the Marshal of the Courts It is hereby notified that by a decree dated the 24th of October, 2017, the First Hall of the Civil Court, following the request of Ann Jenkins (ID 0045261A) ordered that deputy curators be selected to represent the vacant inheritance of Rosina Scerri, in the records of the Schedule of Deposit and Concurrent Redemption of Ground Rent number 1738/2017, in the names Ann Jenkins (ID 0045261A) vs Deputy Curators and in the other relative and subsequent acts. By a Schedule of Deposit and Concurrent Redemption of Ground Rent, filed on the 23rd of October, 2017, in the First Hall of the Civil Court, in the names Ann Jenkins, a pensioner, wife of David Brian Jenkins from him legally separated, a daughter of Reginald Percy Ward and of Anne née Brookes, born in Smethwick, United Kingdom, on the 23rd September, 1939, and residing at St Paul's Bay, Malta, and holder of Maltese identity card number 0045261A vs Deputy Curators to represent the vacant inheritance of Rosina Scerri, That the interpellant Ann Jenkins (ID 0045261A) acquired the apartment described in the Schedule of Deposit and Concurrent Redemption of Ground Rent; That the aforementioned apartment is the ordinary residence of the interpellant; That the said apartment is subject to an annual and perpetual non-revisable ground rent, amount specified in the same Schedule of Deposit and Concurrent Redemption of Ground Rent, payable to Rosina Scerri or her successors in title; That the successors in title of Rosina Scerri are unknown and the interpellant would like to avail herself of the faculty contemplated in Article 1501 of the Civil Code (Chap. 16 of the Laws of Malta) and redeem this same ground rent in terms of the cited law by depositing the sum of €372.60 which represents the value of the said ground rent capitalized at 5% in order to be freely withdrawn by the deputy curators appointed to represent the vacant inheritance of Rosina Scerri, after the due receipt is left according to law. Interpellant: Ann Jenkins (ID 0045261A), No. 31, Trafalgar, Flat 6, Triq l-Imrejkba, St Paul's Bay Services: Deputy Curators, Superior Courts, Valletta Director of the Public Registry, Valletta You are hereby ordered to affix an official copy of this Bann at the entrance of this Superior Court and to summon whosoever wishes to be nominated as a curator to present himself/herself in this Registry within six days and make known his/her interest through a declaratory note. You are also ordered to inform each one that in default, this Court will proceed to nominate an official curator. And after execution, or upon your meeting with any obstacle in the execution hereof, you shall forthwith report to this Court. Given by the aforementioned Superior Court and witnessed by the Hon. Madam Justice Miriam Hayman, LLD, Doctor of Laws. This 24th of October, 2017 Registry of the Superior Courts, today Monday, 6th November, 2017 ADV. DR FRANK-LUKE M. ATTARD CAMILLERI, LLD For the Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals