The Malta Transport Authority will have new powers and functions to bring it in line with legislation in the European Union, Urban Development and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett told Parliament on Tuesday.

Introducing amendments to the ADT bill, Mr Mugliett remarked that even though traffic has increased, the situation is very much under control and this means that the authority is also functioning properly.

The minister pointed out that there are lacunae in the Malta Transport Authority Act, and therefore through these amendments these will be corrected. He also said that the scope of the amendments were to bring the Act commensurate with today’s modern needs.

One such new function of the authority, the minister said, would be to issue car park attendants licences. On mentioning parking, Mr Mugliett said that authority’s first project in this regard – the Park and Ride scheme – was a huge success. He also mentioned the temporary Park and Ride scheme that was situated at the Luxol grounds in St Andrews, which was also very successful during the Christmas period.

The minister went on to say that a transport appeals board was being introduced for a number of reasons, one of which was because of the number of complaints received about VRT garages. He said that there could be contraventions of a serious nature and others of less serious nature, and therefore a point system was being created for the VRT station and also the tester. Previously a Lm5,000 deposit amount used to be withdrawn if the garage would have been found to commit irregularities not commensurate with the authority’s regulations. The garage was thus being given the opportunity to appeal to the authority’s decision.

Next to speak was the Labour spokesman Charles Buhagiar, who agreed with Minister Mugliett in saying that these amendments would not cause controversy.

He said that huge advancements have been registered in road construction and this was partly due to the fact that nowadays we have engineers that are trained in road construction. However he said he still feels that there is much more to be done and that there are various other issues that need to be addressed.

The Labour MP mentioned different situations that haven’t been yet addressed, such as a number of bus shelters that have been removed or have never been set up. Mr Buhagiar said that the excuse usually given was that now bus stations fall under the responsibility of the private sector. He also remarked that the Valletta bus terminus does not provide shelter facilities for the public transport users and also the workers in the sector.

With regards to the CVA system introduced in Valletta, the opposition spokesperson said that there should be a re-think of this system since it is not providing the income which was originally planned by the government, and if things continue as they are he said the government will have to subsidise the contractor who is providing the CVA service.

Traffic management is not being given due importance by the ADT, said Mr Buhagiar. An example he gave were the traffic calming measures in our roads (such as the humps found in several secondary roads).

These, he said, are not all standard and those that are not should be changed.

He concluded his speech by saying that a new labour government would make sure that the ADT operations are improved since it does not deliver in many of these sectors.

MLP’s spokesman for social solidarity, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, said that the public transport has to reflect the needs of its users.

She said that in Siggiewi, locals living in a number of areas outside village core have to walk more than one kilometre since there is no public transport facility in the area where they reside.

She also mentioned that Hal Farrug is a community where public transport is absolutely not available – locals have to walk to the Luqa or Qormi localities in order to avail themselves of public transport.

Noel Farrugia, opposition spokesperson on rural development, spoke about his concern for pedestrians. He said that when traffic lights fail to function they sometimes take two days to be repaired. He thus suggested that a warden – or more according to the location – is to be placed next to the traffic lights not functioning in order to control traffic.

He also voiced his concern on the fact that Malta has the worst bus terminus in Europe and thus the pedestrian is not being given an adequate service. He said that it was obscene that of all the public funds, which were spent during the past 15 years, no funds were allocated to create an adequate bus terminus.

With regards to the St Paul’s Bay by-pass, he said there is no management on this issue and no focus is being giving to the people especially to the locals who make use of this bypass.

Mr Farrugia suggested that a survey should be carried out with the authorities concerned with disabled persons in order to identify their needs. He said that research is lacking and everyone in every level in society is feeling this issue. It is not only those in authority who should decide how to plan projects, but the public needs to be consulted for everyone to be accommodated – the public, he said, needs to be respected.

He concluded by mentioning the Mtarfa by-pass case in which the government had planned to spend Lm200,000, then ultimately spent Lm1m without doing the proper research thus creating problems which ultimately it is the taxpayer who has to make good for them.