The aging infrastructure is a major concern in the transport sector.
The transport thematic team representative at the 2023 National Economic Summit Mark Borg said this while presenting the recommendations of his group on Friday.
He said the transport sector had aged vessels, aeroplanes, and buses, and this needed to be urgently looked into.
“They are not aging, we are already past the aging point, we are aged,” Mr Borg said.
“So we really need to look for the finances to replace all those in all those sectors.
“And we need to create the financial environment to support these transitions that we want to do.
“Technology is also important in this sector. We need to use technology. “We have the technology available already, we just need to import and adapt them to the sector.
“And capacity building is needed at all the authorities that govern our transport systems.
He said there was also a need for some pieces of legislations in the sector to be reviewed.
“The Maritime Transport Act of 2013 needs to be reviewed, the Sea Port Management Act needs to be reviewed, and for a change, let’s review them together with the people who are involved in the sector and particularly the private sector, which is actually impacted by these changes in the law.”
The group also recommended that the transport sector have its own ministry.
“It’s been observed that transport has been the Cinderella of the sectors. It’s been passed around from one ministry to the other to another, and it’s always been attempted at the end.
“Transport has been widely neglected.”
