The public corporation in the Maltese experience : a case-study in the Water Services Corporation

Abstract

In a modem state, it is quite impossible for all the powers of government to be exercised individually by the central authority. Therefore some of the powers of government must be entrusted to subordinate central or local agencies of government. The creation of public corporations arose out of a combination of public ownership, public accountability and business management for public ends. Public corporations are independent bodies, free in matters of day-to-day administration, while retaining some measure of governmental control and public accountability. It is universally agreed that state-owned enterprises should operate to serve the public interest and general welfare. On these lines, the Water Services Corporation Act provides for the establishment of a body corporate to be known as the Water Services Corporation, and for the exercise and performance by or on behalf of the Corporation of functions related to the acquisition, transformation, manufacture, distribution and sale of potable and non-potable water, and, as appropriate, to the treatment and disposal or re-use of sewage and waste water, and re-use of stormwater run-off, to provide for the transfer to the Corporation of certain installations, equipment or other property, and to make provision in respect of matters ancillary thereto or connected therewith. With the setting up of the Malta Resources Authority, some burdens, such as those related to regulatory functions, protection of the environment and the achievement of more rational and economic use of water, have been shifted from the Water Services Corporation to the former. Malta's accession to the European Union, has direct implications on the Water Services Corporation. The mission statement of the Corporation needs to be amended, as needs its policy. This thesis intends to examine the legal and socio-implications of the public corporations in the Maltese experience with special emphasis on the Water Services Corporation, detailing the implications of competition rules, liberalization, and the effects of EU Directives.