The transport sector is rife with scandals, failures and u-turns as Malta heads towards gridlock, shadow minister Adrian Delia said in parliament on Wednesday.

Speaking during the budget debate on the Transport Ministry, Delia said the only certainty that emerged from the budget estimates was that motorists stuck in traffic jams would remain in the same situation for the years to come. 

The scandals in this sector were too many to list in a short speech, he said. But the worst was the driving test scandal, which had potential consequences on the people’s lives and safety.

Despite a public outcry and calls for motorists who may have been handed a licence illegally to be re-tested, the government had done nothing. The transport minister had dismissed the scandal by saying it happened more than two years ago. The prime minister practically justified it, saying ministerial customer care officers had been doing their job.

“The government did not just close one or two eyes to a serious scandal, it actually blessed it,” Delia said.

Listing other scandals, he mentioned traffic management contracts handed by direct order to private companies, driving tags issued irregularly, and the Christian Borg case, where the regulators of the traffic sector, Transport Malta and LESA, were the principal clients of a man who, the courts said, could not operate, Delia observed.  

Failures

As for the failures of this sector, Delia recalled that the government had promised to redo all of Malta’s roads within seven years and reduce travelling time. Those seven years were almost up and the results were there for all to see. Malta was heading for a total gridlock, and it was not because of some feast, he said, laconically.

The hours wasted in traffic jams did not only mean losses of production time. They also meant increased pollution and health dangers, and a firmer link to depression and anxiety was also being seen.

And yet the transport minister was being inventive only in the excuses for his failures.

The budget promised investment in cycle lanes, which was good. But what about the cars stuck in traffic jams?

The government had said there would be consultation about reducing service vehicles during rush hours. But what about the other hours, where congestion was also growing fast?

Instead of investment, the government was planning to reduce spending on the roads by €20 million, Delia noted.

U-Turns

As for the U-turns, one could see how the government first promoted scooters as a mobility alternative. The roads were filled with scooters, without regulation. Then the law was changed, but the government eventually realised there was poor enforcement. It started discussing enforcement and parking facilities, then suddenly decided to ban all rented scooters from March.    

Similarly, the government filled the island with Y-plate vehicles.

Then it said they must be garaged, then that they had to have a surface garage, then a public service garage, and now it was changing the law again.

But the biggest U-turn was in alternative mass transport, Delia noted.

Before the general election, a major project for a metro system was announced. Glitzy exhibitions were held, promises were made but now there was no funding and the prime minister said the project was on the backburner, even though the transport minister said funding studies were being made.   

PN solutions for traffic

Delia said the Opposition was proposing several short, medium and long-term solutions.

Among the proposed short-term solutions was a staggering of times for services, factories, schools and construction and incentives for people to be encouraged to work from home, as they had done during COVID-19.

More online services needed to be introduced to avoid the need for travel.

The roads needed more priority lanes and there should be more parking spaces in commercial centres. That would avoid a situation where cars went around in circles, creating more congestion while they looked for parking.

Malta also needed artificial intelligence-assisted traffic management and greater use of maritime services around the harbours.

The young and the elderly could also be given incentives not to use cars.

One of the longer-term proposals was a metro. The system could be introduced in phases. One line could be ready in between five or six years.

But, Delia said, Malta also needed to change its economic model. One of the reasons for traffic congestion was that in 10 years the population had risen by 100,000. It was not natural growth, but the importation of workers, all over 18 years old and therefore all able to drive. 

Earlier in his address, Delia said there was broad agreement between the government and the opposition in the area of aviation services, a sector started by the Nationalist government.

However, he was concerned that student pilots are being forced to fly to Sicily for their training because of repairs on one of the Mata airport runways.

Some students borrowed as much as €70,000 for their studies, and the least that could have been done was to consult the schools before the necessary works were taken in hand, he said.

Turning to Air Malta, Delia said that however the government tried to paint it, this was a government failure to the detriment of the country and the airline’s workers.

It was also worrying that an international company which was engaged to advise Air Malta on how not to go bankrupt, and had evidently failed, had now been engaged to advise on the seamless transition to a new airline. This was illogical and amounted to squandering.

Was it true that top foreign personnel engaged through this company’s services were paid upwards of €200,200 and €250,000 while Maltese workers were laid off?