Valletta park and ride scheme 'half baked'

Opposition leader Alfred Sant yesterday branded the Park-and-Ride scheme a half-baked project that would not reduce traffic congestion in Valletta.

He claimed the structural changes being made as part of the Park-and-Ride project would increase congestion in the area around the capital.

The project revealed the government's incompetence and the lack of managerial planning that made sense for the country, Dr Sant said, adding that the project would create problems for both the Valletta business community and people visiting Valletta.

The opposition leader said although the project was supposed to be at consultation stage, work on it had started and was moving rapidly.

Speaking at a press briefing in Blata l-Bajda, Dr Sant said the project was half baked because other projects that had cost the government hundreds of thousands of liri, like the embellishment of roundabouts, were being undone to make way for it.

He said the best way to decrease congestion in Valletta and the surrounding areas was to improve public transport, but the government seemed to have no idea how.

Dr Sant also claimed that the Park-and-Ride's structure led Labour to believe that its main aim was to help the "private interests" managing Valletta Waterfront.

Labour MP Charles Buhagiar said he could not understand how the Park-and-Ride scheme would help alleviate parking problems in Valletta: while there were around 3,000 parking spaces in the capital, the parking area would only be providing 950 spaces.

He asked whether a study to calculate the economic effect of the project had been carried out and whether the project's impact on traffic in the area had been examined.

Vehicles would have to cross the main artery connecting Valletta to Marsa to access the parking area, he pointed out. One could only imagine the tailbacks that would result, he said.