Three-quarters of the public support the Central Link road project, Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg told Parliament on Tuesday.
Citing an as-yet-unpublished Social Impact Assessment commissioned as part of the planning process for the Attard project, the minister said similar numbers had said the project would cut journey times, while more than half believed it would reduce emissions.
As the study has not yet been made public, no details on its methodology are available.
“We’ve listened to people’s concerns and we’ve amended the plans in places, but this is a good project and one that will be carried out,” Dr Borg said.
The €55 million Central Link project is intended to alleviate traffic congestion in Attard's village core, and stretches from the Mrieħel bypass to the foot of Saqqajja Hill on the outskirts of Rabat.
Thousands of people have made submissions to the Planning Authority both against and in favour of the project, with opponents insisting the project will attract even more traffic and pollution to the Attard area, and lead to the destruction of trees and vast tracts of agricultural land.
Speaking in Parliament during a debate on his ministry’s financial estimates, Dr Borg focused largely on the new Infrastructure Malta agency and the €700 million investment in new and upgraded roads it was set up to oversee.
“These will be roads befitting of a country making such unprecedented progress,” he said. “Our economic growth so far has been is in spite of our infrastructure not because of it.”
Dr Borg said the authorities were also looking into measures to increase the use of alternative transportation, as well as cooperation with the private sector to alleviate parking problems, including using technology to advise drivers on the availability of spaces ahead of time.
He said new developments on the planned Malta-Gozo tunnel would be announced in the coming weeks.
Earlier, Opposition MP Toni Bezzina questioned the government’s commitment to alternative transportation, arguing that even though the government said it would promote car-pooling by increasing bus lanes, existing lines in Marsa had been removed during works and not reintroduced despite the creation of additional carriageways.
“We need a national transport plan, but in the short term we need a campaign to change the way people commute,” he said, insisting people needed real-time information on traffic flows as well as more park-and-ride services and more transport links to tourist zones and other busy areas.
'We need a development plan based on carrying capacity' - Marthese Portelli
Nationalist MP Marthese Portelli, who represents the Opposition on the Planning Authority board, called on the government to prioritise the long-promised Local Plans revision as well as masterplans for areas such as Paceville.
She called for a national plan for major projects based on the country's carrying capacity. Just two weeks after the approval of the db Group City Centre project in St George's Bay, the Water Services Corporation presented an upgrade plan for the area's water network which did not take the 38-storey tower into account, because there had been no overarching plan to guide it.
Dr Portelli also highlighted problems within the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, which did not have the staff it needed to operate and therefore could not give major projects the necessary consideration.