Updated 1700
The Malta Independent followed a Q&A session with Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia. The Minister said that €35 million is to be spent over the course of 5 years to modernise and restructure cycle lanes across the islands. Reacting to a proposal suggesting financial disincentives to the use of cars, Farrugia said that the government has no desire to use financial penalties and was looking into alternative measures to curb car usage, such as increasing the quality of buses, adding that he was looking for significant bi-partisan consensus before proceeding.
The Times of Malta says that 89% of all Maltese citizens in Malta have never lived abroad for a period of at least one year, according to national data. Meanwhile, a little under one in five of those who spent at least a year abroad are now aged between 70 and 79.
Maltatoday reports that six Dutch Navy sailors from a visiting warship have been fined for setting off hand held smoke flares during a football match at the Ta Qali national stadium yesterday evening.
Newsbook reports that a 51-year-old Transport Malta official sustained grievous injuries on Wednesday morning following a collision between a car and a stationary TM motorcycle at Triq l-Infetti, limits of Mdina.
Updated 1230
Preparations for Govt takeover of public hospitals underway
A government shadow team is in place to take over the running of three public hospitals if a court terminates the government’s deal with Steward Healthcare. Later this week, Judge Francesco Depasquale is expected to decide if the deal should be nullified due to Steward’s failure to live up to its contractual obligations. Should a clear decision to nullify the deal be handed down, and no appeals are filed, the government will immediately move in to “seamlessly” take over the running of the St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals. (Times of Malta)
No more Covid-test required for China travellers
Travellers landing in Malta from China will no longer require a negative Covid-19 rapid antigen test to be allowed entry into Malta as of Monday 27 February. The requirements was passed through a legal notice issued by the Superintendent of Public Health in January, that were put in place to guard against possible new coronavirus variants after China’s reopening prompted a surge in infections there. (Newsbook)
Woman sentenced to jail after hammer attack
A 37-year-old woman on Tuesday was sentenced to four years and four months in prison after being found guilty of injuring a neighbour in a hammer attack in 2018. Charlene Gatt was jailed after being found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on 28 November 2018 in St Paul’s Bay. (The Malta Independent)
Morning Briefing
Building permits increase by a third in last quarter of 2022
During the last quarter of 2022, 357 building permits for a total of 2,064 new dwellings were approved, the NSO said today. The number of approved new dwellings increased by a third when compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The majority of new dwellings approved during the last quarter of 2022 were apartments (1,417), followed by penthouses (343), maisonettes (201) and terraced houses (94). The highest number of approved new building permits (203) was registered in Marsaskala. (DOI)
Doubling of loan down payment was a human error – HSBC CEO
A change to the HSBC Malta website on Friday doubling the down payment needed for a home loan happened because “someone changed the figure on the internet”, the bank’s CEO Simon Vaughan Johnson said. HSBC Malta as admitted that it had “inadvertently” doubled its minimum down payments for home loans on its website, from 10 per cent to 20 per cent. When asked why it took almost a full working day to correct the mistake, Vaughan Johnson said this was due to the website being managed in Poland, rather than Malta. (Times of Malta)
PN to insist in parliament on full inquiry in Sofia’s death
The Nationalist Party will be tabling a parliamentary motion demanding a public inquiry into the death of 20-year-old Jean Paul Sofia who was killed in December when a building collapsed in Corradino. The victim’s family is campaigning to have a publicly inquiry held, but PR Robert Abela had insisted that court proceedings were sufficient. In a move to push Labour MPs in taking a stand, PN leader Bernard Grech announced on Facebook that the Opposition will be moving a motion in parliament requesting an independent public inquiry “to establish who is responsible for what happened.” (Newsbook)
