Better police presence in the streets of Swieqi could deter vandalism and better maintain public order, especially during the summer nights, because Swieqi residents deserve a better quality of life, Alternattiva Demokratika said at a press conference yesterday.
Swieqi has grown from a small village of a few thousand residents into a hub of services and an area of some 10,000 people, due to its proximity to the Paceville entertainment and tourism hub. Swieqi resident Prof. Arnold Cassola said the area cannot stay as it was 20 years ago: it needs better planning in order that residents’ quality of life is safeguarded.
AD urged the authorities to open a police station that would be manned on a 24-hour basis. Regular street patrols should be increased during the night, especially in the early hours of summer mornings when hundreds of students are returning on foot to their accommodation in Swieqi, disturbing residents and vandalising private property.
“We do not want oppressive police action, but a preventive police presence to discourage language students from engaging in disruptive behaviour,” Prof. Cassola added.
This weekend, for example, the police will be prioritising its resources to control traffic in the area where the Balluta feast will be held. This means that there will be a reduced presence in Paceville, let alone in Swieqi.
Furthermore, AD believes that the staff of language schools should collaborate with the police and take a more proactive role in preventing disruption by ensuring that student groups, especially minors, are better supervised better.
Some four star and three-star hotels in the area are opting to accommodate students rather than regular tourists. This tends to discourage regular tourists from coming to Malta, to the detriment of the tourism industry. AD suggested that students should be accommodated with host families rather than group residences or hotels, because they offer better supervision.
New bus network under
servicing Swieqi area
Newly announced Swieqi local council AD candidate Solange Sant Fournier told journalists that the Swieqi, Ibragg and St Andrews areas are suffering due to an insufficient number of route buses. “The new Arriva service has meant less pollution, polite drivers, air conditioning and better connections to previously under-served routes. However, there are serious shortcomings affecting this area. We have lost the hourly route No. 64 that took passengers from Swieqi straight to Valletta. In summer, the problems escalate because the numbers of English language students using the buses increases dramatically, making it next to impossible to board a bus because students are crowding the bus stops,” she said.
Prof. Cassola suggested that Arriva and Transport Malta should reinstate the former No. 64 route and ensure that a bus leaves the area at least every 10 minutes at peak hours. Another service to Valletta from the Pembroke bus terminus via the regional road should be introduced so that passengers have a choice of routes and the option of a quicker journey.
Chairman Michael Briguglio said AD welcomed the changes to parts of the public transport network around the Maltese Islands. However, he said he believed that more changes were needed, after a wider consultation. As a Sliema local councillor, he had already highlighted a number of problems during the consultation phase but unfortunately the reform of the bus service had not been a holistic reform, he said.
AD selecting local
council candidates
Alternattiva Demokratika is in the process of selecting a number of candidates for the forthcoming local council elections. The candidates will be announced in a series of press conferences that will be held in various areas to address specific local issues.