An anti-thesis of Alex Borg in the Nationalist Party who deserves much more attention is Albert Buttigieg. I remember him as a the CEO of he Housing Authority during the last Nationalist Party administration and as someone who holds strong social values. He’s more on the left of PN, being left on economic policy yet still a conservative on many issues.
Albert Buttigieg has stated that he disagrees with his Party’s position on Manoel Island and is calling for an internal party debate to revise the party’s position. PN is not supporting a current petition, signed by up to 30,000 people to return Manoel Island to the public as a park. MIDI, which owns the concession to Manoel Island doesn’t want to give it up and intends to proceed with a massive development on the island similar to what it did in Fort Tigne.
The ongoing saga is about a contract signed during a Nationalist administration and MIDI has a legal right to go ahead with the project. Those who are focusing on the legal issues about the matter are missing the point. This is an opportunity to rectify a wrong that is part of a series of public land concessions granted by consecutive governments for the development of luxury real estate. The government has ample tools and executive power at its disposal to divert the issue beyond a legal contract and find alternative solutions. This is also an opportunity for PN to redirect its communication and policies to a new economic vision and effectively present itself as an alterative to Labour.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
Leave a Reply