Reference is made to the piece penned by Edward Fenech dated 19 September. True, Edward Fenech is right: the cost for living could be drastically reduced by efficient use of energy and resources.
Transport is just one issue but other consumption and utilisation opportunities exist, all of which have been swept under the carpet. Renewable energy is just one. When I think of Malta with respect to the rest of Europe, our “caveman psyche” stands out like a mole on a crooked nose. Is it just transport that could cut the cost of living?
What about our law courts, to mention one? Has any real effort  been made to curtail the inefficiency and true injustice caused by the law courts? Do politicians realise the opportunity that exists here to drastically cut the cost of living, or are other interests at play here? Imagine the time gained (time is, after all, money, and lots of it) if the majority of cases were decided in just one year’s time (as most should) instead of the actual, horrendous, 10 to 15 years they normally take. Most cases are stalling the economy because they involve business issues and their investments. Imagine how much travel time and fuel could be saved by those poor souls who have to attend the law courts on a regular basis for 10 years, or so, just to have their hearing deferred to a future date.
There are lots of areas where cost effectiveness can be introduced to benefit the finances of families without increasing salaries devoid of reciprocated productivity. In the end, increasing salaries without increasing productivity results in a vicious circle that feeds inflation culminating in depression and poverty. Intelligent implementation of taxes, revising of archaic rent laws, efficient use of natural resources and incentives to honest hard working people could all reduce the cost of living. The formula exists, but administrative people have yet to find it and implement it effectively.
Before considering any perceived improvements to Malta’s public transport system, one must make it a point to start now on developing a metro system similar to Paris, London, Stockholm, Rome, or any other major city in Europe. Obviously the system must be designed along lines that are suitable for Malta, but the philosophy should be the same: mostly underground, fast, efficient, punctual, frequent and profitable. After all, Malta is, as a whole, comparable to one, minute European city.
This proposal is nothing new. A prominent Maltese entrepreneur suggested this in an equally prominent local newspaper, with plans, layout and other details, 15 or so years ago. Did any politician take it up? How far into the future do politicians envisage problems and their solutions?
But are present Maltese politicians capable of getting such ideas airborne? I hope our politicians evolve to meet the exigencies of the future. I have this fatalist vision of Malta’s traffic suddenly coming to a grinding halt for lack of space to park, or even drive, and people saying we should have done this or that, 20 years ago. Also, I cannot see our income improve without measures, governance, laws, taxes, etc., that facilitate productivity.
Enjoy the future folks! After all, we get the politicians we deserve.

David Mallia
Mgarr

I have just received a 30-page publication paid for by public funds, the very obvious aim of which is blatant propaganda for the PN, disguised as an overview of the government’s accomplishments in various sectors, of course leaving out the non-accomplishments, with the Prime Minister taking centre-stage.
That this costly publication’s aim is to serve the PN’s electoral campaign can be seen in what is not mentioned in it. I will take just on example from so many that it is extremely difficult to decide where to start. I refer to the health sector.
While the publication boasts of Mater Dei having 825 beds (St Luke’s, I understand, has more), it says nothing about the fact that there are not enough nurses – around 200 short – in order to ensure the expected high standard of service in a hospital which has cost Maltese taxpayers more than Lm300 million instead of the Lm87 million originally estimated.
This publication contains much of the PN’s electoral manifesto for the coming election, disguised as the PN government’s plans for the next five years. Governments do not contest elections. Political parties do. Labour’s plans for the next five years have been paid for by the Labour Party, not from taxpayers’ money. Besides this publication, the government is spending thousands of liri in paid adverts in the newspapers, publicising the projects promised for the Grand Harbour during the next legislature, when a number of the projects mentioned are just figments of the imagination. Such as promise No. 4 (of 20): “The government will study the potential of a new yacht marina in Kalkara Creek. The development of this marina will depend on its commercial variability, since the bay’s location will require a breakwater.”
Which actually means that this supposed project still has to be studied as to its feasibility. Which also means that no studies have been carried out as yet. One could invent a host of other projects simply adding that they will depend on studies as to their commercial viability. It’s all pie-in-the-sky projects, in other words!
The many thousands of liri being spent by the government as subsidy to the PN’s electoral campaign is nothing less than scandalous.

Eddy Privitera
Mosta

Melissa Buttigieg is to be congratulated on her excellent choice of words in defence of fireworks (‘Fireworks keep tradition alive’, 5 September).
In her letter, she obligingly refers to her beloved fireworks as “noise pollution”, which is exactly what fireworks are in Malta.
Then Ms Buttigieg goes on to tell us that her boyfriend “dedicates his life to fireworks”. This phrase is very apt just a few weeks after five men, who also dedicated their lives to fireworks, lost theirs in a fireworks factory explosion.  
As for tourists coming to Malta to “see” the beauty of Maltese fireworks, it is difficult to understand how one can “see” noise. This is exactly the point: the fireworks we “see” are perfectly acceptable; it is the barbaric “murtali” explosions that are so hated by everybody – except for a few like Ms Buttigieg and her boyfriend, of course. As for the “tradition” bit, the murtali explosions are becoming more powerful every year; this leads one to suspect that there is now competition to see who can create the loudest explosions. This is not tradition.
Maybe Ms Buttigieg can be kind enough to persuade her boyfriend and other fireworks enthusiasts to make fireworks that can be seen and admired, and to forget the murtali – then we will all be happy.
Give us a break from the noise!

George Debono
Sliema