In the last session of the Gvern li jisma consultation meeting at Fort St Elmo in Valletta on Thursday night, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat acknowledged that Malta has a long standing traffic problem that has no short term solution. Finally, someone in government has fully acknowledged the magnitude of the problem and has set out some ideas to alleviate the daily nightmare that is blighting not only our mental health, but is also costing our economy.
The Prime Minister said that in the short term, the government was embarking on projects to improve the existing road network and was not having simultaneous projects in a bid to not further exacerbate the problem.
At the same time, the government was committed to improving the public transport system. This is positive, but the real news is in the fact that the government is looking into the possibility of excavating a commuter tunnel network to facilitate direct travel from one point of the island to another. This makes sense.
But he did not stop there, he said the government was also studying the ideas of overhead and underground train systems, including the concept of monorails. Such ideas should have been implemented 20 years ago, but better late than never, one supposes. Projects to bring the islands’ transport network into the 21st century would understandably cost hundreds of millions of euros to implement, but they are very sorely needed. Trams are another possibility, but the truth is that Malta and Gozo need a combination of all these systems if we are to ever alleviate the constant gridlock that grips these islands. The Kappara junction will hopefully be completed soon, and it will be followed by another flyover in Marsa. But perhaps the government should also consider the Brussels solution, in terms of using underpasses which are sometimes much easier to construct and maintain than flyovers.
The prime minister’s words about a bridge to Gozo was probably music to everyone's ears. Despite the feasibility study that was carried out, Dr Muscat said the idea of an overhead bridge does not excite him, and thank God for that. A bridge linking Malta to Gozo would ruin the island once and for all. He did also say that a tunnel was a possibility, although this too would have an environmental impact. Given that the government’s track record in the environment sector is not exactly the best, this project would be one that it would be forgiven for. Malta badly needs a massive upgrade in terms of connectivity. We are essentially a small and very densely populated city state that sorely needs alternative forms of mass transport. The government ought to explore all avenues possible to secure funding and implement plans as soon as possible. The only danger is that even if we act now, the technology we are looking at might be out of date by the time it is put into place.
One thing is certain, things cannot go on the way they are. Daily commutes that are only a few kilometres long can take up to an hour or more.