The government is planning to increase the number of parking spaces at the Park and Ride car park in Blata l-Bajda by 650, bringing the total number of available parking spaces to 1,500.
The Park and Ride scheme had proved very successful, especially with shoppers, before the Controlled Vehicular Access (CVA) was introduced earlier this week. Now the Park and Ride parking is chock-a-block by 7.30am, just in time for government workers to get the free transport to Valletta and report for work.
Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett said the government was looking at ways to improve the scheme and was in the process of increasing the number of parking bays by 650.
Mr Mugliett said these additional parking spaces would be available by the end of the month.
The minister said that with the parking bays on the Valletta ring road and those in the Park and Ride area, the government has provided 50 per cent of the total parking spaces there were available inside Valletta.
Mr Mugliett said the government has invested a lot in improving accessibility to Valletta. It had invested Lm800,000 in the Park and Ride scheme and had now introduced the CVA to Valletta. In addition, the tender for the Vertical Connections Project is presently being adjudicated.
He said that before the CVA had been introduced, it had been discussed by the Cabinet of Ministers at three cabinet meetings, so people could not say that it had not discussed beforehand.
Mr Mugliett said electric minicabs would be in operation in Valletta as from 26 June and these would be taxiing people around Valletta at a minimal cost.
When asked how many cars had entered Valletta since the CVA was introduced, Mr Mugliett said that 22,000 cars had entered the city on Wednesday and if one compared Thursday with Wednesday, there had been an increase of 34 per cent in the number of cars that had spent less than 30 minutes inside the capital.
The government will be paying the CVA company Lm740,000 a year for the service being provided, which includes repayment of the thousands invested in equipment. The contract covers a 10-year span.
It is estimated that every access point into or out of Valletta had cost around Lm140,000 in equipment.
The CVA company will be responsible for the collection of money owed for entering and parking in Valletta and will be passing on this money to the government.
Mr Mugliett said that in addition, the Park and Ride scheme is costing the government Lm150,000. “Our prediction is that we will break even. We do not want to make a profit. Breaking even is enough – just to cover our costs,” he said.
Valletta mayor Paul Borg Olivier rebutted claims that the CVA had been discussed by Valletta local council for only an hour and even that it was just another tax. He said 35 cents an hour made Valletta the cheapest place to park in Malta.
In a politically-loaded remark, he said that 35 cents was nearly as much as one would have to pay to send an SMS to One Television, the television station owned by the Malta Labour Party in opposition.