editorial

Why is foreign investment unsuitable this time, dear Alfred?

The reaction to the very imminent take-over of the Price Club by the Libyan company LAFICO is understandable when it comes from someone like Vince Farrugia.

Mr Farrugia is the flamboyant chief of the retailers and traders, the shopkeepers in other words and his job description is to build walls round them and keep out the competition.

But when it comes to Alfred Sant, his decision to oppose the take-over of Price Club by LAFICO is incomprehensible. More so when LAFICO is heavily involved with Corinthia Group of Companies.

Not a weekend goes by when Dr Sant does not lament over the lack of foreign investment and when it does come, Alfred Sant takes out his bazooka and decides to lambast the deal. Which goes to show what politics is all about.

The Leader of Opposition has to decide which way to go. But even here, one cannot see much political mileage for Dr Sant. The people who are employed at Price Club couldn’t give a hoot if their masters are Eskimos, Libyans or Maltese. All they want is serious management and concrete investment. All they want are their jobs back.

The consumers want to buy dirt cheap products. And if Dr Sant cannot see this then he surely has a problem.

Give us a proper supermarket

Which brings us to the Price Club, as a supermarket.

Very few people have dared look at the workings at ground level in the former Price Club. Before we set out on another project, one should look at the amenities at the Price Club.

They were rudimentary to say the least.

The small lifts, the lack of parking places, the service without a smile, the crowding, the safety facilities, the steep ramps, these and many others would have awarded the Price Club a very negative report indeed.

If the new owners want to make an impression, they must make a clean sweep and address the problems. Many customers who have visited the Price Club lamented over the difficulty in buying and transporting stuff.

The lack lustre service was also not something noted.

The new owners must take this into account. They would do well to look at the models of supermarkets abroad in England, Germany, Italy and France.

And the Planning Authority, which had chosen to turn a blind eye when the first Price Clubs were first opened, should involve themselves more actively in the general interest of the thousands of clients who will visit these premises.