Marsa junction show of government vision to upgrade Malta’s transport sector, Abela says

The newly inaugurated Marsa junction is part of government’s wider holistic view to improve the country’s transport sector, the Prime Minister Robert Abela has said.

Interviewed by presenter Pablo Micallef on party television station ONE TV, Abela said environment is high in the government’s agenda.

“The project for me means government’s vision to carry out changes for better ways to commute around the country,” he said.

The PM said that faster travelling times and less pollution will result in a better quality of people for people, especially those living in the southern part of the country.

He also praised government for abiding by the set deadline, and within the allocated budget.

“For sure it’s not a ‘spaghetti junction’ as said by the faction supporting Bernard Grech. It is also ironic coming from someone whose idea of upgrading the country’s transport system is that of having busses which can’t pass through our village cores and catching fire,” Abela said, hitting out at blogger Manuel Delia.

He also said government will continue to explore other modes of transport such as free public transport and sea travel.

READ ALSO: Abela inaugurates Marsa Junction: ‘We stepped on the gas even during the pandemic’

Gender quotas

After the majority of parliament voted in favour of the gender corrective mechanism on Wednesday, Abela called the new law “historic”.

“This government had the guts to take action on an issue we have long discussed. Women representation in parliament has never exceeded 15% in Malta, and we wanted to change that,” he said. “The EU average stands at 33%, and we have to keep up. When we saw we want to be the best in everything, we mean it.”

He also hit out at Nationalist MP Hermann Schiavone for raising the unrealistic prospect of male election candidates listing their gender as X to gain advantage from gender parity mechanism, despite voting in favour of the new law just a day before.

“His statements reflect the true feelings of the Nationalist Party, who had no other choice but to vote in favour, because they knew they would be criticised,” Abela said. “He could have raised his concerns at committee level.”

COVID-19  

Speaking on the pandemic, Abela welcomed the reopening of schools and care homes earlier this week, insisting people must now be more vigilant.

“We must not let our guard down. We have to continue abiding by protocols so we can get out of this situation,” he said.

He also said that he understands the pain of establishment owners who will not be reopening on the 26 April, stating government will continue to support them.

Abela said that the country must also retain its vaccination rate to keep the number of cases low.

“I understand people are anxious, but we need to push through it,” he said.

Pre-1995 rent laws

On the pre-1995 rent law legislation, Abela said that government will be facing the issue head-on.

“Tomorrow (Monday) we will have the second reading in parliament, and I hope that by the end of the week we can pass it on to the committee stage,” he said.

He also slammed previous administration for failing to tackle the issue when it first cropped up. “The problems were first flagged in 2000, and ten years later a PN administration carried out a reform which created more issues.”

He said that should the new law be voted in, more than 10,000 families will be benefitting.