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Dr Austin Gatt’s “chickens” are already laying eggs! Much ado is being made both by the Prime Minister and Dr Austin Gatt about the SmartCity project.
While any similar news is most welcome, considering the present stagnant state of the economy – no matter what Dr Gonzi may say to the contrary (how can he then explain the continuing fall in Maltese exports?) – one should be very cautious before jumping to the conclusion that this project is a done deal. And, most importantly, that the targets, nay, “guarantees” of employment opportunities, will actually be realised.
Considering the track record of the PN government, I honestly have my doubts. The rush with which Dr Gonzi and Dr Gatt announced the supposedly good tidings, smacked more of political opportunism than anything else.
After the GAMA debacle, when a project which we were told by the same Dr Gonzi and Dr Gatt, was going to employ 800 ex-Denim Services employees in just a few days’ time, ended up stillborn, both the prime minister and minister Gatt should have been more cautious, particularly when this promised SmartCity project is projected to open its first office in two years from now (not two weeks as was the GAMA project!). And to reach its 5,000 employment target in 10 years’ time!
“There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip” should be constantly in the minds of both Dr Gonzi and Dr Austin Gatt. They should never let political propaganda on the eve of any election hold sway. After all, even The Times cartoonist, who very rarely draws caricatures of PN ministers, since his main political target is nearly always Dr Alfred Sant, hinted in one of his caricatures published after the announcement of the SmartCity project, that Dr Austin Gatt may be “counting his chickens…”
In my view, Dr Gatt is not only counting his chickens before they are hatched. But he wants to give the impression that the chicks are already hatched, and have already grown into full-blown chickens and have started laying eggs!
Eddy Privitera
Mosta
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