Work on Grand Harbour cycling network starts
Entire project will cost some €27.4 million and is expected to be completed by 2028
Work on the Grand Harbour cycling network, first announced in 2022, has begun, with Infrastructure Malta (IM) predicting the first phase of the project will be completed within a year.
Phase one of the plan focuses on connections between Msida, Pietà, Blata l-Bajda, Valletta and the Valletta Waterfront.
Infrastructure Malta’s drawings of the project show segregated cycling routes between those locations.
“Phase one of the project, currently under way, has an implementation period of 16 months as per the awarded tender, with works expected to be completed by the end of July 2026,” an IM spokesperson said.
The entire project, including phases one and two, will cost some €27.4 million and is expected to be completed by 2028, the spokesperson said.
Phase two of the project will connect active mobility routes through a number of roads in Marsa and Paola to the Grand Harbour area.
The project also includes soft investments such as improved signage along key corridors including Floriana-Msida, University-Gżira-Sliema-Balluta, and St Julian’s, further supporting the shift towards active mobility in urban centres.
The cycling network project was first announced in 2022 under then transport minister Aaron Farrugia.
That October, Farrugia announced a plan to build between 50 and 60 kilometres of cycling routes over a five-year period.
In April 2023, the transport ministry said the first phase of the bicycle network project, ‘C-SAM’, would focus on the Grand Harbour area and should be completed by the end of 2024. However, the government missed that deadline after no compliant bids were received for the project’s tender.