Restricted access to a cluster of developments in San Pawl tat-Tarġa through a narrow dead-end alley has prompted residents to fear for the community’s safety in case of an accident or emergency.

The narrow and “blind” alley cannot cater for the residential developments up Triq il-Konversjoni, where “over 40 new units, plus other blocks and individual homes” are located, said Mark Brincat, who lives in the area.

Brincat, a medical professor, has estimated that “over 100 people are going to be trapped in this alley due to bad planning”. Pointing to a lack of access or traffic impact assessments, he said a Land Rover could hardly get through.

'An accident waiting to happen'

In a Facebook post, Brincat said this was about “safety and road access”, warning it was “an accident waiting to happen”.

The alley, just off Misrah San Pawl, by the chapel of San Pawl tat-Tarġa, was the only way to serve two blocks of maisonettes and two blocks of flats under construction as well as other residences, he specified.

Building works were being carried out from the fields behind the sites through a path created from the main road, Triq San Pawl.

But, once ready, access from the back – the only possibility for a road – would be blocked off too, Brincat noted.

Meanwhile, smaller trucks were also using the narrow alley, which was only wide enough for one-way traffic and through which “a Land Rover goes through with difficulty”.

The occupants of the blocks being constructed will only be able to exit through the narrow alley. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Brincat said the Naxxar local council had been informed time and again, adding that, “for years, we were told a road at the top would join the main Triq San Pawl”.

But, he noted, the latest update was “no knowledge of any new road” and concern has been mounting.

Brincat feared that, once finished, the alley, meant to be quasi-pedestrian and leading onto the urban conservation area and small square of San Pawl tat-Tarġa, would be the only access road for all the families in the area.

“In case of an accident, it would be a disaster,” he warned about the “bottlenecks” and the difficulty for a fire engine, an ambulance and removals trucks to pass.

'Road should be built after project is completed'

“How would someone get out in the case of a heart attack,” the medic asked.

“This is nothing to do with the flats but with the safety of these people and future residents living beyond this narrow bottleneck.”

While expressing “concern”, Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami said the developments were in accordance with policies and permits and that a road should be built by the developer once the project was completed.

Asked about the potential danger and any plans to connect these hemmed-in residential developments to the main road, Infrastructure Malta replied that it “intervenes on schemed roads once opened by developers as part of their obligations in development permits”.