Updated November 29 with Minister's reply
The people are suffering the government's lack of vision for a mass transport system, the Nationalist Party said on Monday.
The consequences of the government's failure included hours stuck in traffic, and respiratory problems, the shadow minister for planning, Ryan Callus said.
"It is evident that the Labour government has zero vision for mass transport after Prime Minister Robert Abela admitted that the €6.2 billion underground metro proposal is no longer a priority for the government," Callus told a press conference.
He observed that for the second year in a row, the metro was left out of the budget and the accompanying financial estimates, despite the fanfare before the general election.
“If this country does not invest in mass transport, this country will remain jammed and become even more jammed,” Callus said.
“We have a government that clearly does not prioritise mass transport,” he added.
Shadow Minister for Transport Adrian Delia also commented on the government’s “u-turn” on mass transport.
“After the government pumped millions of euros in advertising the metro, we now find that it is on the back burner,” he said.
He said that this year saw a number of failures and scandals in the transport sector, including how Transport Malta still leases cars from alleged kidnapper Christian Borg and the driving test scandal, exposed by Times of Malta.
“A sector full of failures, with nothing happening to tackle them,” he said.
He pointed out how the government first promoted escooters, and then earlier this year, decided to ban all rented scooters.
“The same thing with Y-plate vehicles. First government said they must be garaged, and then they have to have a surface garage, and then a public service garage,” he said.
He said that PN proposals for the transport sector included giving incentives for people to work from home, as they had done so during COVID-19, and providing more parking spaces in commercial centres so that cars did not go around in circles, creating more congestion and pollution.
PN MP Stanley Zammit said that the government failed the public when it came to monitoring and controlling the construction sector.
"The government was unjust when it initially rejected Jean Paul Sofia's family plea for a public inquiry," he said.
Prime Minister Robert Abela then announced an inquiry into Sofia's death and apologised for not showing solidarity with his family.
Zammit pointed out that after the earlier construction site tragedy which killed Miriam Pace, recommendations made to the government to remedy the situation had been left to gather dust.
Aaron Farrugia: PN is cut off from reality - and its past
Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia hit back with a lengthy social media post in which he accused the PN of glossing over its own past failures in the transport sector and failing to notice that various proposals it made were already in the works.
Farrugia noted that the PN invested a "ridiculous" €11 million a year on road upgrades, versus the average of €100 million a year invested in the past year.
He also dismissed their criticism of public transport, noting that the PN had brought Arriva and bendy buses to the country and turned into a "laughing stock".
The minister also mocked the Opposition for flip-flopping on various ideas, from Y-Plate regulation to its seemingly forgotten trackless tram idea.
If it were up to Delia, the minister said, people would be barred from driving until age 21. And if it were up to PN leader Bernard Grech, fuel prices would shoot up as subsidies would be removed, he added.