Local councils are being told they will be given help if they identify key roads they believe could be turned into pedestrian-friendly ones, in a major shift steered by Infrastructure Malta.
The state-run roads agency has asked councils to list roads they believe need to be rebuilt, with each locality handed a tailor-made square metreage of road rebuilding it is eligible for.
It has also committed to developing the equivalent of at least 10 per cent of each locality’s allocated metreage into alternative mobility roads, with segregated paths for pedestrians or cyclists. Councils have been told that IM will foot the additional costs of these works.
The initiative could go a long way towards incentivising more pedestrianisation in towns and villages clogged with vehicles and traffic.
In a letter seen by Times of Malta, the agency’s CEO, Ivan Falzon, told councils they are main stakeholders of its projects. Each year, for the next three years, each locality is being allocated a specific square metreage of roads that will be rebuilt.
“I’m asking you, local councils, to propose a list of roads that should be prioritised, so that they can be upgraded in line with a detailed schedule that we will discuss with you and agree upon,” Falzon says in the letter.
He adds that “local councils whose proposals reduce the current metreage of roads through the creation of active mobility spaces will benefit even more as this space will be upgraded by IM as well”.
IM’s work to turn these roads into pedestrian-friendly ones will be limited to the road base and segregation and will not cover expenses for street furniture and ancillary services. IM will cover the costs of these spaces over and above the metreage allocated to the locality to rebuild the roads.
Such roads would allow vehicle traffic on one side, and alternative means of transport such as cycling, or walking, on the other side.
In the letter, Falzon refers to such roads as “safe spaces returned to the community”.
While IM’s people are knowledgeable about road building and have the expertise of the sector, local councils are knowledgeable about the needs of their localities, so the two need to share responsibilities for infrastructural projects- Ivan Falzon
“This is an incentive to create alternative spaces. There is one condition: that this space should not measure less than 10 per cent of the proposed total metreage of roads that you will propose for an upgrade”.
When contacted, Falzon said IM was inviting all 54 councils in Malta to participate in this three-year project, allocating funds for a total of 500,000 square metres (the equivalent of 70 football pitches) every year. So far, the initiative had been well-received, he said.
Since its founding in the summer of 2018, IM’s way of steamrolling ahead with some of its projects, especially in rural areas, has drawn heavy criticism, particularly on environmental grounds.
Falzon took over at the helm of the agency in July, soon after the Żebbuġ and Siġġiewi councils protested that they were given details about major works on a traffic junction to the two towns only days before the project started.
Towards the end of 2020, the Swieqi, Attard and St Paul’s Bay mayors had also complained they were being kept in the dark about roadworks in their areas, sometimes only being alerted by signs put up when the project begins. Soon after, the Qormi council said it had not been informed about major IM plans to build a flyover at the Mrieħel bypass.
But Falzon told Times of Malta yesterday the agency needed to build bridges with local councils and plan projects together.
“While IM’s people are knowledgeable about road building and have the expertise of the sector, local councils are knowledgeable about the needs of their localities, so the two need to share responsibilities for infrastructural projects.”
Falzon told Times of Malta that IM would still be upgrading rural roads to ensure better access, however, there were alternatives to concrete and tarmac it could consider, whenever possible, such as geocells geoconcrete and other innovative paving.