Dr. Alfred Sant Mexxej Laburista u Kap ta' l-Oppozzizjoni

Too many pet projects were presented by successive Nationalist administrations as wonderful steps forward in making Malta really and truly il fior del mondo. Yet, soon after they were launched, either the government forgot its obligation to deliver in a reasonable time on promises made, or once the project was launched, the administration showed itself incapable of making things work as promised.

It is almost as if the administration routinely submits its favourite policy options to prolicide - the practice of aborting or quickly killing offspring soon after birth. This is not necessarily a fanciful explanation for what has been going on. After all, the Carthaginians regularly practised prolicide not so far away from here. And they ran a colony in Malta for a few centuries. Some of their tendencies might have survived among us to this day... which, of course, does not amount to arguing that Lawrence Gonzi is descended from Salambo.

Even if fantasy is swept aside, the point remains. Why does the Gonzi administration, copying on its predecessors, launch so many "wonderful" ideas only to let them down in quick time?

Consider the big projects to which we have been exposed over the years. They were presented as strategic lynchpins to achieve the good life under the Nationalist logo. The Tal-Qroqq hospital project has proceeded for year after year, always flushed by the hot breath of scandal. Presumably it will be launched as a finished product next summer. But why and how did it happen that, over the years, this big "dream" was turned into a nightmare of overspending, waste and bad management by those who were supposed to function as the protagonists best able to make the whole project become real? And the suspicion will remain that what is going to be sold as a finished project, even if many years late, will still be born prematurely. Much will still need to be done before citizens can get some real return on the huge dollops of tax money that have been pumped into Tal-Qroqq.

Similarly, there have been the ongoing project at Cirkewwa and Mgarr harbours to improve the sea links between Malta and Gozo. The government launched this project as another dream coming true. Then numerous postponements occurred, as design changes and cost overruns accumulated. The project now lags years behind schedule. Meanwhile, also at huge cost, sea vessels were ordered and built to ply the Gozo-Malta route. The ships have separate facilities for boarding by passengers and cars, which remain unutilised.

Turn now to other areas where the Gonzi administration and its predecessor were most prolix in proclaiming the coming of the good life. In agriculture: Farmers were promised better pickings for their output if only they changed their style of production to what the EU would like. Indeed, this was projected as a great leap forward for farmers. Well, they did what they were told to do, and already, less than three years down the line, they feel betrayed. I know because, with my colleagues, I have been meeting people who work in farms and they make clear their view that they face an uninviting future.

Or take such areas as education and health and medicines, the latter apart from the financial and administrative disaster that was allowed to develop at Tal-Qroqq. Why did the administration give the signal that it was less than worried with what would happen to those students who did not do so well in academic studies, and therefore needed effective vocational training, such as the one provided by the former trade schools? At the same time, widespread government public relations went on to proclaim how vocational training was breaking new ground, while industrialists claimed they could not find the right recruits for their business in priority areas like financial services, IT and pharmaceutical production.

Why was so much time and effort spent on proclaiming success in the restructuring of the Malta Tourism Authority... when right from the beginning it was clear that the ongoing lack of direction would make the diverse pronouncements made by the Tourism Minister meaningless if not puerile?

Above all, why has Mepa been allowed for so long to act as a long-term spoil sport for those not inside some charmed circle? Here again, the Authority was billed as a project meant to prevent all the abuses that had accumulated in the public management of building permits and land development. Yet, year after year, following the launch of Mepa, we have had wide-ranging complaints about the Authority's gross inefficiencies and worse... vide the latest reports by its internal auditors.

On further reflection, there must be some deep reason for the government's assiduous commitment to prolicide its pet projects. A friend of mine told me: Think it through - if the quays at Cirkewwa or the installations at Tal-Qroqq are first built, then demolished, then rebuilt, somebody has to get paid first for the building, then for the demolition, and once again for the rebuilding. In that way feel good is spread around...

I see the point. But there are pros and cons to my friend's argument.