Santa Lucija local council yesterday voiced strong objections to roadworks started unilaterally by the Malta Transport Authority (ADT), which threaten to destroy a sizeable portion of a well-tended garden and traffic island.

Speaking yesterday, Santa Lucija mayor Frederick Cutajar protested that the council had neither been consulted nor informed about ADT plans for work to be carried out on Triq Prinjoli.

The ADT’s intentions, in fact, became known just in the nick of time on Monday afternoon, when Mr Cutajar was passing and saw that contractors had already begun digging into and removing plants from the traffic island.

It was the contractor who informed Mr Cutajar of the ADT’s plans for the strip of road and a police report was filed immediately by the council to prevent further damage to the traffic island.

The council expressed its alarm yesterday that close to one-third of the large and immaculately-maintained garden-cum-traffic island was to be destroyed to make way for a new dual carriageway and a bus shelter – changes the council had never requested or even knew about.

Furthermore, such changes to the structure of the street had been decided upon without permission from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, after the road had just been completed in 2000.

Mr Cutajar stressed yesterday that the area did not suffer from continuous traffic flow problems, with the exception of weekdays between 7.30 and 8am when commuters use the Santa Lucija ring road to bypass traffic congestion at the nearby roundabout. He added that while the ADT was meant to have carried out a study on the particular situation, no such study had yet been undertaken.

The patch of greenery was more than a traffic island, Mr Cutajar insisted, but doubled as a garden, set up and maintained through a good deal of effort on the part of the

council. The garden also served as a monument marking the establishment of the council itself.

The council has now been contacted by the Urban Development and Roads Ministry with a request for discussions over the issue.

But whatever the case, Mr Cutajar stressed that such a project would be “absolutely unacceptable” for the village and that the widening of the road and relocation of the bus shelter from further down the road were completely unnecessary – particularly considering the fact that an embellished and cherished area would be sacrificed in the process.