It is a sad fact that the Infrastructure Ministry and Transport Malta has bulldozed over ERA, the Plant Directorate, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, and the Lands Department when it comes to road re-building, the Partit Demokratiku said in a statement.

It is high time that whoever is responsible for the tree uprooting rampage that is being undertaken and the new trend of replacing Maltese rubble and dry walls by pre-cast concrete blocks be identified. PD further notes that the Infrastructure Ministry may also be using the Emergency Roadworks Order, thus bypassing the established protocols, including those of Superintendence and Environment Impact Assessments. PD expects Minister Jose Herrera and Minister Owen Bonnici to speak up on the people’s behalf.

As the third voice in Parliament, PD said it is demanding that all technical drawings of all road networks and links be made available to the public by being tabled in Parliament forthwith, along with the cost benefit analysis of the different options. Citizens and NGOs need to be informed and listened to at the design level, even before the planning authority stage.

PD also asks Minister Ian Borg, who is also responsible for Lands apart from road building, whether private land reclamation procedures are being followed to the letter, when private property is being expropriated for road widening, and to state what measures  are being undertaken to safeguard agricultural land as stipulated by SPED.

The Marsa flyover project is also proving to be yet another onslaught on mature trees. To add further insult to injury, certain trees are also being sawn off and their stumps concealed in the hope that the citizens wouldn’t notice that trees planted in the 1970s have disappeared.

PD reaffirms its position that widening and opening of roads is not going to solve traffic congestion as the modal shift to alternative means of transport is not being encouraged both in urban and non-urban areas.

Let’s stop giving private car dependence priority as this is drastically affecting our physical environment, PD said.