Two car parks in San Ġwann will go underground as part of project to transform its main road into an open green space, the local council said yesterday.

Welcoming the announcement by Green Project on Monday, it said Misraħ Lourdes and Misraħ Lewza would become underground parking areas, freeing up the small squares for the benefit of residents. 

The San Ġwann local council did not have any time frames or plans in hand as yet, but expects major roadworks whenever the project begins.

Its executive secretary Kurt Guillaumier said the government had adopted its proposed idea, conceived some time ago, given that San Ġwann was a heavily polluted through-road locality.

Aerial map shows neighbouring car parks Misraħ Lewza and Misraħ Lourdes. Photo: Google

“It is very busy, with poor air quality”, he said.

Under the council's plan, traffic through Vjal Riħan would be diverted underground.

“It will involve some inconvenience, but afterwards, San Ġwann will be a different place", Guillaumier said.

He said time frames and site plans are in the hands of Project Green, the new entity tasked with implementing the government's €700 million pledge. 

The Vjal ir-Riħan project was among pledges listed in Labour's 2022 electoral manifesto.

In that document, the PL promised to triple the amount of open space in the area and double the number of parking spots from those presently available.

The Karin Grech garden, opposite the church, would also form part of the greening project for the centre of San Gwann after Planning Authority approved plans to upgrade the gardens had been shelved by the government in 2013.

Meanwhile, revised tenders for a pollinator garden, announced in 2021, have been issued, evaluated and awarded and the time period to object elapsed on Monday, the local council said.

It would now be checking if any objections were submitted with the Finance Ministry and would proceed with the €300,000 investment, spanning a 1,000 square metre urban area that would include carob and almond trees to help bees pollinate.

It would provide another open space that was simultaneously beneficial to the environment, recreational and educational.

The pollinator garden was delayed because the offers submitted the first time round last year were not in conformity with requirements, Guillaumier explained.