Maltese more concerned about roads than eurozone crisis
MaltaToday's latest survey reveals that the cost of living, utility bills, low income and roads top the list of concerns in Malta.
18 March 2012, 12:00am
James Debono
James Debono
1 min read
The state of roads is a bigger concern than the eurozone crisis for the Maltese.
Compared to previous years, concern about the cost of living and utility bills remain the two top concerns for the Maltese. Concern about these two issues remains at the same level as last year.
On the other hand, concern about employment has dropped significantly from 18% last year to just 13% now. This drop is even more significant in view of the very difficult international climate.
But while concern about employment remains low, 14% expressed their concern about low wages and pensions.
Concern about the cost of living and utility bills is significantly higher among Labour voters and lower among other categories of voters. While 51% of Labour voters consider utility bills as the most pressing concern of the country, only 21% of Nationalist voters think likewise.
On the other hand, concern about the eurozone crisis is highest among PN and AD respondents. Only three per cent of Labour voters consider the epochal crisis facing the eurozone as one of the two most pressing for the country. On the other hand, 14% of undecided voters consider the eurozone crisis as a pressing concern.
PN voters were the most likely to consider the state of the roads as one of the two most pressing problems. In fact, the state of the roads emerges as the third most pressing concern of PN voters. Concern about the state of the roads is highest among those intent on not voting in the next election. The latter are also the most likely to express concern about petrol and gas prices.
For the first time in MaltaToday surveys conducted in the past three years, concern about immigration has dropped to zero from 27% in March 2009. On the other hand, concern about corruption has increased to three per cent.
James Debono is MaltaToday's chief reporter on environment, planning and land use issues, ...
Jeffrey Vella •
QUITE FRANKLY,I CARE LESS ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING ABROAD.THE EURO ZONE CRISES WAS NOT CAUSED BY MALTA SO WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT OTHER COUNTRIES' PROBLEM.
AS FOR THE ROADS,WELL THE SAME CONTRACTORS KEEP ON GETTING THESE CONTRACTS EVEN IF THEY FAILED BEFORE.
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Definitely something wrong in th materials used in Maltese roads. They are obviously cheap. No one checks what aggregate the contractors are mixing with the asphalt. No quality control whatsoever... And we keep on wasting precious money... taxed off the people. Such a pity.
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Look in Gozo, we never had decent roads.But now the roads are far worst then before.There is somthing wrong in the material.This things happen in third world countries.
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Hardly 'staggering', if less than one in ten complained about the state of the roads. It follows that nine out of ten of the people are satisfied. As for the revelation that even less people are bothered by the eurozone crisis than about the state of the roads, I would say that this is not surprising at all considering that most Maltese are insular and they are hardly aware of what goes on beyond our shores.
