UHM lambastes proposed park-and-ride scheme

The Union Haddiema Maghqudin has disapproved of the fact that works on a project to improve accessibility to Valletta and Floriana have already started at Blata l-Bajda while a consultation process is supposedly under way.

In its reaction to the consultative document - Valletta And Floriana: A Strategy To Increase Accessibility - it also objected to the fact that the government had not consulted the union, a major stakeholder.

The UHM questioned what level of consultation on the issue was really going on. If the consultation process was not genuine, then the UHM had no intention of taking part in it.

"Let us sit together and discuss the matter seriously but not issue a consultation document and, in the same breath, start works," UHM general secretary Gejtu Vella said, expressing the union's commitment to safeguard the interests of workers.

In the absence of a proper consultation process, the UHM would have to take a stand, he warned.

The union has set up a committee to determine the project's impact and implications on the workers and on business and would be presenting its views to the government for its consideration.

It appealed to the government to study the logistical implications and financial and physical difficulties workers would face, instead of continuing down its solitary path.

Although the union agreed on the need for more accessibility to boost the social and commercial sectors, it disapproved of the way the so-called consultation process was being handled.

Moreover, from the document, it emerged that the government was not giving due importance to the issue of "competitiveness". It was not addressing it seriously but was just paying lip service, Mr Vella said, questioning whether the government had studied the impact the project would have on competitiveness or whether it would just contribute to wasting precious time.

According to the UHM, the proposed park-and-ride scheme - the centrepiece of the project to enhance accessibility to the capital - would have too many negative repercussions, both for the workers and for visitors during working hours.

It questioned whether the 950 new parking spaces would be enough and whether the public transport system would be able to keep up with the influx of new clients.

The use of public transport was, anyway, not an option for everyone, the UHM added. Some people had to use their own cars to carry out their jobs while others drove their children to school and wives to work on their way to Valletta.

It has been estimated that workers who could not make do with public transport and would have to use the park-and-ride system would have their expenses increased by Lm125 a year.

Whoever launched the initiative had not taken all these considerations into account, the union said.

Reacting to the UHM's comments, a spokesman for the Cabinet Committee for National Projects said the union should have realised that a public call for reactions was made when the White Paper was published on July 26 and that the public invitation for anyone who wanted to submit their views and reactions was open to the union as well.

He said the committee would take note of the union's views. However, the spokesman added that representatives of the UHM had met, at their request, the chairman of the sub-committee before the publication of the White Paper.

During that meeting, the UHM had indicated its intentions to give the government its views when the White Paper was published, which it has not done yet, the spokesman continued.

With regard to the point raised that the consultation process under way was not genuine because works on access roads to the park-and-ride site at Blata l-Bajda have already started, the spokesman said the consultation process was not about road works and junctions in Blata l-Bajda. "The UHM knows this," he said.

The government has not taken any irrevocable action towards introducing a system whereby employees would be charged for parking all day in Valletta, beyond proposing the idea for public consultation, the spokesman added. A decision, as stated in the White Paper itself, would need to be made some time after the consultation.

In the meantime, the UHM, and anyone else, was invited to express their views on the subject, the spokesman said.

The White Paper is available on www.miti.gov.mt where reactions to it can be submitted.