The Msida local council is demanding a meeting with Infrastructure Malta after it declared that it was against a flyover being constructed as part of the Msida Creek project. 

In a statement on Tuesday, the council said that it had been left waiting for weeks to meet with the agency, which so far has not been answered. 

However Infrastructure Malta said its CEO Steve Ellul and a technical team met with the council on September 19 and discussed the Msida Creek project "in its entirety".

Ellul announced on Monday that it would be forging ahead with the plans, despite opposition from the council. 

The first stage of the project will kick off in the first days of next month and will cost €38.5 million. The project is expected to be completed in its entirety in 2027. 

The massive redevelopment of the area will remove the traffic junctions that take vehicles from Msida and Ta' Xbiex towards Valletta through a new flyover. It will also see the construction of a 300-metre canal to alleviate flooding and a new stretch of public open space stretching out in front of the church parvis. 

The council has on multiple occasions said that while it is not against the project, it opposes the building of a flyover in the locality. 

"The council remains firm in its positions against plans for a flyover in the middle of Msida," they said again on Tuesday, adding they had requested the meeting weeks ago when they declared their opposition to the flyover, but that this so far had not happened. 

"The council's job is to safeguard the best interest of all Msida residents and that is what it intends to continue doing." 

The project has undergone several design changes since it was announced in 2019 with plans to build two flyovers. 

Those drawings drew criticism from residents, NGOs and architects and prompted a radical redesign of the project - adding a piazza in front of the parish church, parking spaces, a canal, pedestrian walkways and critically the downscaling of the flyovers from two to one. 

Previously, a Labour-led local council had submitted its feedback requesting changes and ultimately had voted in favour of the project.

Earlier this month, the new PN-led Msida council voted in favour of a motion asking IM to halt the project and to reconsider the flyover.

Earlier this year, the Chamber of Architects released plans for an alternative to the project that would see the busy junction transformed into a tree-filled park.

Activists and Msida PN councillors had urged the government to consider the Chamber of Architects' proposal.

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