The roads in Malta are worse than those in Zimbabwe, according to a recently published Global Competitiveness Report, Labour’s spokesperson for Infrastructure and Public Works, Charles Buhagiar said in parliament on Tuesday.
There are a number of roads which should have been done by 2013, he said, and we have been hearing about them for years. A number were supposed to have been done using EU funds, but the list remains.
Mr Buhagiar stated he is aware of problems due to appeals filed by contractors, but the issue remains that Malta can’t afford to be in a situation where these funds are endangered. This means the appeal process must be sped up, he said.
Speaking of the Coast Road, which is to cost some €25 million and will take up some agricultural land, he appealed that it is done in a way which takes up as little land as possible.
People were told the Mtarfa Bypass was being done in a much more modern manner, but as soon as it was completed problems arose. Following parliamentary questions, Minister Gatt said a Transport Malta (TM) study found it was down to movement in the clay foundations.
Mr Buhagiar also referred to the problem of speed camera. “Personally I don’t agree with speed cameras, as people will simply slow down when they are close” he said, asking what has become of the Minister saying TM was reviewing its policy on this issue.
Over hang signs, the lack of regulation on where vehicles of different weight and size can pass from and a dripping St Venera tunnel were just some of the other problems Mr Buhagiar referred to.
The Mriehel footbridge problem has been solved with crash barriers, he said, because the government said only 42 people cross this road each week. This does not solve the problem as people still need to cross.
Around 60 VRT tests, which should take between 15 and 20 minutes, are being carried out in one day, something physically impossible, he said. TM installed cameras at the head office to curb abuse, which is a good idea, however once abuse was flagged, the officials in question should have been suspended.
Labour MP Joe Mizzi said the transport system in Malta, after 22 years with a Nationalist government, has continued to deteriorate, with triple the amount of cars and unacceptable levels of fuel consumption.
The most recent studies by the PN date back 18 years, and even then the experts said Maltese roads posed a danger to drivers and pedestrians alike. Malta is one of the countries with the most traffic accidents, he said.
Of all the revenue from permits, licenses and traffic fines, only three per cent has gone towards maintenance and construction in the last 20 years, he said.
The government has never presented a strategic and holistic transport plan, tailored on serious studies of the most economically viable and environmentally sustainable methods.
Two years ago they presented ‘A vision for the public transport’, as if there was something new, he said, and now six months are left until the experiment on the people starts.
The contract with Arriva is not transparent, he said, and was introducing a monopoly, which the government had said it wanted to change.
Turning to Air Malta, he said it had opened the path for aircraft maintenance in Malta, and unfortunately now the government has gotten it into this pitiful situation. Hopefully the problems will be solved so that nobody would lose his job.
He referred to cars imported from Japan, which are declared at a much lower cost than they were bought. The attention was drawn on this but nothing happened, so eight months later he was drawing the Minister’s attention, he said.
The country can’t go on in this way; there must be someone who has the guts to speak up, instead of being forced to resort to parliament. It is embarrassing that those responsible get away with things scot-free.