126 claims of vehicle damage due to poor road conditions; 43 justified

Poor road conditions lead to 126 claims of vehicle damage; 43 justified

Jun 28 2022

During a recent parliamentary reply, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia revealed that 126 claims for vehicle damages were made to Infrastructure Malta due to poor road conditions. Of the 126 claims, 43 were justified, amounting to a total compensation of €12,000.

This information was revealed in Minister Farrugia’s reply to PN MP Rebekah Cilia. Cilia asked Farrugia to reveal the number of compensation claims made for vehicle damage due to the poor condition of Maltese roads in 2021.

The 43 claims were justified due to occurrence in arterial pathways or during road works. Other cases were passed on to local councils due to the damage involved with roads or contractors responsible in the area while some cases were not justified.

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Over 13,000 speeding tickets issued in Coast Road area

Jun 28 2022

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has revealed that a total of 13,015 speeding tickets were issued in the Coast Road area between June 2021 and May 2022.

PN MP Claudette Buttigieg posed a number of questions to Camilleri with regards to the speed cameras in the area, asking which speed cameras were installed recently, how many speeding contraventions were issued and how many in total were installed.

Camilleri highlighted that there are a total of five speed cameras along the Coast Road, three in the northbound and two in the southbound, with the northbound one installed near Splash and Fun waterpark and towards the Torri tal-Għallis in June 2021. The two southbound cameras were installed in May 2022, with cameras near the Salini Resort and Torri tal-Għallis and another towards the Magħtab area.

A total of 2,004 contraventions were issued in May 2022, with the Salini – St. Paul’s Bay to Pembroke camera issuing 274 contraventions and the Magħtab – St. Paul’s Bay to Pembroke camera issuing 1,107 contraventions.

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Photo Source: Pixabay / Television Malta

Malta’s election cost €8.5 million; including €1.9 million in flights

Jun 28 2022

An election report moved in parliament on Monday revealed that the Electoral Commission spent €6.6 million on the March general election and another €1.9 million on subsidies on flights for overseas voters.

1,952 voters benefitted from subsidies on flight tickets provided by Air Malta, with the low cost flights amounting to €90. 53% of voters came from London, 23% from Brussels and the other 24% where dispersed amongst countries where Air Malta operates.

The bulk of the expenses came from the remuneration of personnel hired for election-related purposes, with assistant electoral commissioners and election staff costing €1.5 million while temporary services such as disciplinary forces cost €1.9 million.

Electoral Offices employee recruitment cost €192,000 while utilities and maintenance amounted to a total of €896,000.

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Metsola says Malta’s Parliament has power to change after Cutajar ‘Fejn Kont?’ comment

Jun 28 2022

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has issued a reply to Labour Party MP Rosianne Cutajar after the latter criticised Metsola for addressing the Roe v Wade decision & not the Andrea Prudente case which took place locally.

After Metsola tweeted her solidarity with US woman following the Roe v Wade ruling, Cutajar asked where she was a day earlier when “an American woman risked dying in Malta because our laws are so restrictive that they don’t even allow abortion for medical purposes…”

The regression of women’s rights in the US, and in other places around the globe, is a worrying trend.

The @Europarl_EN will keep standing up for women, equality and liberty.

— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) June 25, 2022

Cutajar’s calls of hypocrisy prompted a reply from the EP President, who stated that while she does not wish to enter any sort of back and forth with Ms. Cutajar, would point out that it is the Maltese Parliament which she sits in and the Party which governs and she forms part of that has the legislative power to change.

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) was a U.S. Supreme Court decision by which the Court ruled the the United States Constitution generally protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court voted to strike down the decision, with the Supreme Court stating that “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

In Malta, Andrea Prudente and partner Jay Weeldreyer have decided to sue the Maltese government after being denied their request for termination of a non-viable pregnancy, having to be airlifted to Spain.

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