Transport Authority and council battle it out over traffic management

A sub-committee set up by the Rabat local council - which is at loggerheads with the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) over traffic management in the Hal Bajada area in Rabat - has drawn up a "comprehensive" traffic management system for Rabat designed to ensure a better flow of traffic and ease congestion.

The bone of contention between the two is that while the ADT is insisting that a one-way system in Hal Bajjada should start functioning immediately, the council wants that rather than a partial attempt to solve the problem in one area, a comprehensive plan should be introduced for the whole locality.

However, an ADT spokesman said the authority was prepared to give a chance for discussion on the proposed plan in an effort to find a solution.

Street signs installed in a number of streets in Hal Bajjada over a year ago on instructions by the ADT were covered up by black plastic bags by the council which put them up.

The signs were put in place on the basis of an agreement with the pre-March 2003 council, which then had a Nationalist majority, as one of the measures to reduce the traffic using Borg Olivier Street after this was restored to being a two way traffic artery. The signs were immediately covered up after they were installed, and were never brought into use.

The present council has also ignored various ultimatums by the ADT to uncover the signs, the last ultimatum being that of July 19 this year.

Rabat's Labour mayor Frank Fabri - the council is now Labour-led - said this stand was taken because the council wanted a traffic management scheme for the whole of Rabat.

Contacted by The Times Mr Fabri said that a partial scheme would certainly put more pressure and congestion on other areas in the locality.

He explained that the sub-committee made up of "experts" in the field has presented its recommendations to the council which will now organise a public consultation meeting to discuss the proposals. A copy was also sent to the ADT which was expected to send its views on the proposals.

But a spokesman for the ADT insisted that the issue was over the non-implementation of an agreement reached between the former council and the authority through the intervention of former Transport Minister Censu Galea.

The agreement provided for the installation of closed circuit television cameras to monitor the traffic flow in Borg Olivier Street, the services of a warden 12 hours daily and a traffic management plan for the stretch between St Dominic church and Hal Bajjada.

The ADT spokesman insisted that the agreement would have reduced pressure on Borg Olivier Street by up to 20 per cent.

The most recent episodes in this issue - dating back to the 70s when residents started pressing for Borg Olivier Street to become a one-way street - started unfolding before March last year when the ADT presented the local council with a list of streets in the Hal Bajjada area in Rabat to be made one-way. The signs were paid for and set up by the council.

At that time the council had wanted a public discussion to be held with residents in the locality before the signs were uncovered, Mr Fabri said.

Many of the residents had been complaining because of the new one way system that had been introduced and a petition was sent to the council expressing the residents' views.

Mr Fabri argued that instead of introducing traffic changes in particular areas it would make more sense to have a traffic management scheme for the whole locality.

He said that in his view the former council had made a mistake when it became involved in changes for Borg Olivier Street, a main artery, which fell under the jurisdiction of the central government.

The council now intended to hold a public meeting over the proposed plan and to discuss it with the ADT later.

Mr Fabri referred to the agreement by the former council before March 2003 with the central government to introduce three strategies to control traffic in Borg Olivier Street, saying that there never was a signed agreement over these strategies.

He said that among other measures, the council's sub-committee was now recommending that certain heavy traffic should keep away from the town centre where this was not absolutely necessary and that heavy vehicles would not use Borg Olivier Street - at present only public transport buses can do so.

The council, he added, was hoping that when the Mtarfa by-pass was completed a lot of traffic would use this road.

The ADT spokesman said that before the last council elections in March 2003, an agreement had been reached so that the council would implement certain measures to ease the traffic impact on Borg Olivier Street.

The spokesman referred to the council's proposal that heavy vehicles should not be allowed to pass along lower Borg Olivier Street. But, he added, a sign indicating this had been fixed in that street for some years and therefore it was enforcement that was needed.

The spokesman said the agreement did not specify that all these three measures should be implemented simultaneously, as the mayor insisted.

He added that the ADT's plan for the area, drawn up following traffic counts by the ADT, had been open to adjustment.

Results of studies by the ADT showed that the Hal Bajjada plan would have reduced impact on Borg Olivier Street by 15 to 20 per cent, which was considerable.

Asked about the ultimata given by the ADT and the fact that these were ignored by the council, the spokesman said the ADT was in a position to impose its decisions but it believed that it should do this only when there were safety hazards involved.

The ADT was prepared to help the council even in the implementation of a comprehensive traffic plan because it believed in it.

It accepted to evaluate the council's plan but would not allow any measures that might constitute a safety hazard. It would also give its advice against any other measures that could lead to congestion.

The ADT was giving the chance to see what good could come out of the proposed plan, the spokesman said.