I love Malta but hate the traffic

I lived in Malta 20 years ago and loved my time with you all. Twenty years on, I’ve just returned from a week’s holiday. What a difference two decades make. From your beautiful old colourful buses, freely rattling along uncrowded roads, to an almost permanent traffic jam. Something feels wrong with Malta in 2023.

Wealth has descended on your islands since joining the EU and that, of course, is great. However, with wealth comes a price. That price appears to be countless cranes, continuous construction, an exponential increase in traffic and, sadly – in my opinion – a reduction in the quality of life, certainly for me as a tourist.

Has the government got a plan to ensure Malta doesn’t come to a complete standstill? Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Has the government got a plan to ensure that Malta doesn’t come to a complete standstill if the traffic continues increasing? It’s time for action, otherwise your beautiful islands are going to be a continuous stream of traffic and an endless car park with nowhere to park.

I circled Valletta twice the other day before I found a parking space as all car parks and ‘white’ parking spaces were full. An urgent plan is needed; to protect the beauty of the islands, to reduce the traffic, to minimise new builds and to ensure that whatever attracted us all to Malta in the first place isn’t destroyed forever.

I love Malta and wish you all well.

Jonathan Wilson – Presteigne, UK

Planned destruction of more heritage in Sliema

The Times of Malta report (‘Landmark building in Sliema to get six more storeys’, March 15) about the (yet another) planned destruction of the building on Isouard Street/Tower Road, in Sliema also misses the fact that this is the block where Malta’s first minister of finance after the acquisition of Independence, the wise and gentle Giovanni Felice, used to live.

Anyone daring to send to his house any sort of gift would be politely pointed to take it instead to be given to the Ursuline Sisters in the street just up from and facing Isouard Street.

John Consiglio – Birkirkara