Matthew Vella
CCTV cameras installed by local councils in Paola, Zejtun, Msida, Pietà, Naxxar and Mosta have generated a total of €486,853 in fines from traffic contraventions caught by the cameras.
But a substantial amount of the fines were passed on to the private contractors that supply and service the cameras, and the company that processes the contraventions and issues the fines.
A total of €317,381 – 65% of the fines that were paid between 2006 and 2008 – were paid to the warden agencies that supplied the cameras, and Datatrak, the sole company that issues the fines.
The rest was paid to the local councils forming part of the joint committees that commission the installation of the CCTV cameras.
CCTV cameras managed to generate a total of €310,815 in fines for the Zejtun joint committee over the past three years, but the majority of this money – €220,398 – was paid to the warden agency that services the councils and to Datatrak, which processed and issued the fines.
The CCTV cameras were located in Paola’s Vjal Santa Lucija and Pjazza Antoine de Paule, at the Xintill roundabout, and another on Tal-Barrani road between Zejtun and Ghaxaq.
Between 2006 and 2008 they recorded over 12,000 contraventions, 10,486 were paid.
The local councils (Ghaxaq, Gudja, Marsaxlokk, Paola, Santa Lucija, Tarxien and Zejtun) were paid €148,176 as a result of their profit-sharing agreement with the contractor.
During the same period, in Naxxar and Mosta two CCTV cameras installed at Pjazza Vittorja and Pjazza Rotunda generated a revenue of €49,278. Of these €16,545 went to the warden agency, €7,978 to Datatrak and €24,755 to the councils of the Mosta joint committee (Gharghur, Mellieha, Mgarr, Mosta, Naxxar and St Paul’s Bay).
And in Msida and Pietà, two CCTV cameras near Junior College and Pjazza San Luqa, generated €126,760 in fines, with €49,661 going to the warden agency, €22,799 to Datatrak, and €54,299 to the councils (Hamrun, Msida, Pietà, Qormi, Siggiewi and Zebbug).
Some of the cameras are no longer operational as they were removed in 2007.
Last week, MaltaToday revealed how speed cameras are earning millions of euros for three private companies, with 58c from each €1 that motorists pay in speeding tickets going into their pockets.
Two of the companies – Guard & Warden, and Datatrak – received €1.15 million between 2006-2008 from a total of €2 million in speeding fines paid by motorists on just four camera locations: the Mriehel bypass, Mdina road in Zebbug, Burmarrad road, and Xemxija Hill (in operation for only one year).
Eight new speed cameras have now been set up on the Birkirkara bypass, Sta Venera tunnel exits, Mdina Road in Qormi and Tal-Barrani Road in Żejtun with speed limits of only 60km per hour.
They come just a year before the joint committees renegotiate a new five-year contract in 2010 with the warden agencies. Speed cameras are proven to deliver the highest revenue in their first year of installation, when motorists are not yet aware of the camera’s presence and are therefore more careless when driving.
Just before competition sets in for the 2010 contracts, both Guard & Warden and Sterling will rake in peak earnings on the eight new speed cameras, before the current contract is up.
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