Updated 11.45 am

Enforcement action has been “planned” by the tourism ministry to clamp down on noise pollution on The Strand, Sliema that is leaving residents in overlying apartments at their wits’ end as the promenade turns into a chaotic nightlife zone.

In an email to a disgruntled resident, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo elaborated on his plans to address the “unbearable” situation, which has come to a head in an area that was, until recently, a tranquil, upmarket address.

Following countless complaints and a newspaper report, Bartolo assured Annamaria Baldacchino, who is leading the charge against the deterioration of The Strand and to preserve the residents’ quality of life, that “enforcement is planned”.

He said, “coordination meetings about noise issues”, led by the Malta Tourism Authority and his ministry together with other entities, have taken place.

In a separate email, Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia assured that the Enforcement Unit within Transport Malta, LESA and the Police Force will also be taking the "necessary action". He has roped in Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri and the transport authority’s CEO Jonathan Borg.

The assurance was given after claims this stretch of road was a “mess”, with drivers speeding in the evenings, obstruction of private garages due to double and triple parking, and abuse by drunk and rowdy people.

The residents want cameras along The Strand and police foot patrols at all times to stop the “rampant lawlessness” and to ensure no music was played outdoors.

Baldacchino and other residents broke the silence on the way they were living, unable to open their apartment windows due to the pounding music into the early hours, including from the boat parties that leave The Strand. 

The minister was responding to the residents’ demands to stop the music in the outside areas of bars and restaurants so both themselves and tourists could live in peace and quiet.

He had said “action is being taken accordingly” after receiving numerous emails on the “intolerable” noise that meant residents could not even enjoy their terraces.

They also have to contend with accessibility and cleanliness issues, piles of garbage, a “suffocating” stench that arises from illegal restaurants, traffic chaos and double parking on the main road into Sliema as well as a lack of parking spaces as these are taken over by tables and chairs and pavements are overrun by businesses.

The promenades are dominated by ticket booths and restaurants – some illegal – creating “dirty, rowdy and overcrowded” scenes while a general lack of enforcement is the order of the day.

But Bartolo recently wrote these matters were being “discussed internally”. Acknowledging and addressing the “multifaceted” garbage issue, the minister said the MTA was carrying out inspections on the catering establishments in the area to check that swill contracts were in place.

He added that 167 inspections had been carried out from July 19.

“More efforts for sweeping and washing are being made” on the promenade and in the areas that fall under the responsibility of the Cleansing and Maintenance Division, Bartolo said on the issue of public cleanliness.

‘Give us back our lives’

As yet, nothing has changed  and the residents are bracing themselves for the height of summer.

Baldacchino, who has consistently and unfalteringly flagged abuses in the area, said she was “looking forward to seeing improvements with the increased enforcement” in view of the “sorry state of affairs in Malta in general and the deteriorating state of Sliema”.

The residents, she said, wanted their life back and had a right to this.

Baldacchino has been rallying the troops against the “consequences of lawlessness” that the country was suffering, referring also to complaints by the Malta Chamber, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association and unions, which have expressed concern about the “nosediving” of quality of life.

She also referred to an article in the British tabloid newspaper, The Sun, that described the “mayhem” in Malta, a destination for wild ravers and no longer a quaint Mediterranean break.

The situation was now “critical” as even tourists were being disgusted by what they saw.

“I live in Sliema and have the opportunity to speak to several tourists and many have told me this is the first and the last time they will visit because they were appalled by what they saw and heard,” she wrote to the tourism minister.

Baldacchino urged him to look for quality, not quantity, warning Malta’s reputation was going to the dogs.

Trying to make their desperate voices heard over the din, the residents she represents implored the government to urgently intervene against “land grabbers and the country’s freefall for the sake of future generations”.

Baldacchino quoted catering establishment and trading licences regulations forbidding disturbing noise and bombarded the minister with videos of the “disgusting” situation at The Strand.

The footage leads viewers through a seemingly never-ending narrow tunnel of loudspeakers all along the length of it, capturing the cacophonous amplified DJ and live music blaring from the pavements outside the establishments – well after 11pm.

In her crusade in the name of the residents, Baldacchino had also written to the MTA’s enforcement section but said she was “ignored”.

Calling the police also proved futile because they just filed a report and then had to appear in court for cases to be constantly deferred.

She questioned why the relevant authorities did not take action and close down these law-breaking establishments out of respect towards law-abiding citizens.

Her wild-goose chase has led her to the Environmental Health Directorate to tackle an “atrocious” public toilet that no one claims.

She has also chased the Lands Authority to “stop giving out encroachments like cheesecakes”; and Transport Malta over coaches occupying the seafront and the reduction of the road on the other side to a single-lane obstacle course, creating a danger and inconvenience.