Malta needs green and efficient mass transport and the Nationalist Party is working on plans to this effect, Opposition leader Adrian Delia said today.

In a short telephone interview on his party’s radio station Net FM, Delia began by criticising the government for raising fuel prices at a time when international oil prices were low.

He said the last time diesel went up to €1.28 per litre was under the Nationalist government when the price of oil was at $103 per barrel. Now the price of oil is half ($54 per barrel), but Maltese citizens were paying the same exorbitant price.

He said people were paying the price for the government’s lack of planning and businesses would soon start to feel the impact of such price hikes.

“All unions have spoken against these increases. Even General Workers’ Union said people should be compensated. But the government is being silent because it thinks everyone is busy at the beach,” Delia said.

Delia added that the fuel prices would be exacerbated by the amount of traffic in the country. Car experts recently told him that car engines in Malta were working five or six times more than cars in the UK, to the point that dealers no longer looked at miles when it came to cars used in Malta.

He said it was “frightening” that 82 new car licenses were issued every day on an island already gridlocked with too many cars, and widening roads was not a solution. Reacting to yesterday’s announcement that an additional 40 buses would be added to our roads, Delia said there was no point adding new buses if they too are going to be stuck in traffic.

“I’ve been saying this for two years. I’ve spoken to transport experts specialised in small countries and it is clear that if we don’t have a system of mass transportation, the problem won’t be resolved. This is something we need to do and the PN is working on it. We’re working seriously with a group of people to create solutions,” he said.

Delia warned that only 0.8% of Malta’s cars were hybrid or electric, which explains why 10 people are dying every week from respiratory problems.

The PN leader ended his interview with a reminder about the call issued by Louis Galea to find people interested in helping PN’s reform process.

He also said the party would soon start working on social media workshops which would lead to a conference tackling how best to use social media for good.

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