Ombudsman slams TM over 'sheer arrogance at its very best'

In a report referring to a 2007 complaint by an Qawra resident against ADT (Transport Malta’s predecessor), the Ombudsman highlighted an example of how public authorities should never treat the people, saying a case of minor road repairs had remained as a standstill for double the amount of time needed for the City Gate project.

The resident had been complaining to the ADT for several years about bad workmanship of road alignment works which was causing a considerable amount of rainwater to flood his garage.

The facts were however never contested by ADT or by Transport Malta.

The Ombudsman called on Transport Malta to apologise to the resident and for the repairs to be carried out forthwith. He also recommended that Transport Malta should award complainant a once-only nominal payment of €500 to cover moral damages suffered as a result of his abysmal experience.

The Ombudsman submitted his Final Opinion to the Prime Minister and to the Minister for the Infrastructure Austin Gatt, who was quick to react.

He wrote to the chairman of Transport Malta saying that he was alarmed to note that while the organization accepted responsibility for defects in road works that gave rise to this grievance, for several years it failed to solve the problem.

He also showed his concern that in January 2008 the ADT, as the precursor to Transport Malta, merely blamed its own Network Infrastructure Directorate instead of directly assuming responsibility for the situation and that despite assurances to the Ombudsman that the problem would be solved by the end of 2008, nothing had happened.

The Minister was also perturbed that TM management failed to reply to the Ombudsman’s letter in August 2010.

The Minister wrote that: “The Ombudsman’s Office is not to be treated in this manner and I believe that the authority should make a formal apology to the Ombudsman.”  He instructed TM management to identify the employees responsible for this situation and to consider whether disciplinary action was called for and at the same time to take the necessary repair immediately in hand.

On his part the Ombudsman too was quick to appreciate the Minister’s directive to Transport Malta to take appropriate measures and pointed out that to his knowledge the issue of instructions by a Minister to a public authority to issue an apology was “a welcome first”.

TM management apologised to the Ombudsman for its lack of response that it attributed to weak follow-up procedures that had already been addressed rather than to any lack of respect for his Office.

The management also submitted a technical status update on the matter.

THE CASE

In 2004, ADT accepted responsibility for the bad workmanship and undertook to carry out remedial works. Later, however, it said it had no funds. Promises that a call for tenders would be issued were not kept.

This indifference was also in evidence too in the way that ADT, and later Transport Malta, reacted to his own intervention, the Ombudsman said.

In January 2008 the ADT sought to justify its lack of action by telling the Ombudsman that the Director of its own Network Infrastructure Directorate (NID) consistently failed to reply to internal memoranda urging him to treat the matter with urgency.

"To the Ombudsman this admission was a clear indication that ADT had no control over its own employees and was unable to implement in an effective and timely manner works that the Authority itself undertook to carry out."

As the months passed by and the Ombudsman continued to insist upon the ADT management to carry out these repairs as had been promised to complainant, the works remained pending. In the meantime complainant’s garage continued to be flooded every year during the rainy season.

After persistent prodding, in October 2008 ADT officials agreed to issue a call for tenders for works to adjust the lower part of the culvert and create an outlet for surface water runoff collected in this section. However, despite a promise by the NID Director to complete works by the end of 2008, all round lethargy continued to prevail and again nothing happened.

This situation led the Ombudsman in mid-August 2009 to seek the intervention of the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Infrastructure and to protest strongly at the way in which his Office was being treated by Transport Malta. This approach too failed to produce any tangible results and the explanation that was proffered this time was that a technical report was awaited before works could be taken in hand. Several months again passed by and works remained outstanding.

When responsibility for road maintenance works passed from ADT’s Network Infrastructure Directorate to the Roads and Infrastructure Directorate of Transport Malta, the Ombudsman immediately demanded an investigation to establish why this complaint was persistently ignored. However, even this direct approach to the new management of Transport Malta faced a brick wall.

In September 2009 the engineer responsible for the Roads and Infrastructure Directorate confirmed to the Ombudsman that works would get under way soon. However, by mid-2010 these works remained pending while at this stage the Authority even started to ignore in a systematic manner communications sent by this Office on the matter.