MIDI has issued a statement rebutting claims that Government’s plans for Marsamxett harbour, which include a proposal for a yacht marina at Tigné Point, as well as Sliema’s proposed traffic arrangements, were brought about by lobbying or attempts on its part to influence these decisions.

Government’s proposals for a fully-fledged marina at Tigné Point came as a surprise to MIDI, since it has never been party to discussions on the matter. In fact, following the publication of the Grand Harbour scheme, MIDI wrote a letter to the Chairman of the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation (November 27, 2007) complaining that, as one of the biggest stakeholders in the area, it had not been consulted about the proposals, let alone, as some correspondents have implied, actively lobbied for them.

The only interest expressed by MIDI in berthing facilities at Tigné Point was when MIDI applied to MEPA, last July, for three temporary pontoons to offer fair weather berthing on the southwest foreshore of Tigné Point.

As for the Sliema traffic scheme which is being claimed is intended to push traffic (and business) away from The Strand and towards the new Midi project in Tigné, MIDI has never requested nor lobbied for any rerouting of traffic, or for the pedestrianisation of Bizazza Street, or for any reduction in parking spaces at the Strand.

“While it is convenient for those who are against the extension of the seafront route for their own personal reasons to attempt to turn this issue into some kind of devious plan in order to gain support, the facts are what they are, and are readily available to anyone with an honest interest in the issue,” Midi stated.

“In our opinion, Sliema’s traffic would be better served if Bisazza Street remained open to traffic, giving motorists the option to choose between this or the Qui-Si-Sana route to get to the Strand. MIDI also feels strongly that parking at the Strand should not be reduced at all, because, if anything, Sliema needs more parking spaces, not less – as well as a more efficient public transport system.”

As for the Tigné tunnel, the facts are that Government had plans to divert traffic around the Tigné peninsula, and through the site of the former military barracks, long before MIDI was even set up. The building of this public road was not a MIDI invention, still less a ploy to divert traffic from central Sliema to the new development; it was a condition set by Government on whoever was the eventual successful bidder for the Tigné Point and Manoel Island Project.

Motorists will remember the old directional road signs at Ghar id-Dud that urged them to take the detour via Qui-Si-Sana as a faster route to the Strand. “Was this also an attempt to move the town centre towards the MIDI development, which did not even exist at the time? This route was suspended because of construction works at Tigné Point, but was always planned to reopen once the tunnel and ancillary road works were completed,” MIDI argued.

MIDI would also like to clarify that the tunnel beneath Tigné Point is no smaller than originally planned, as can be seen both in the Outline Development Permit (ODP) and in the scheme approved by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA reference PA6481/03) and by the Roads Department.

The tunnel was designed to cater for two-way traffic in an urban, built-up area, and is in fact no narrower than practically all the useable stretches of Tower Road, or Gorg Borg Olivier Street on the St Julian’s seafront. To be precise, at no stage was there ever any intention of making this a wider road.

In the latest proposals, the Malta Transport Authority has decided that the tunnel traffic should go in one direction only, but this decision has nothing to do with MIDI – it is ADT’s prerogative – and MIDI had to make changes accordingly.

Works on the tunnel are scheduled to be completed by the end of April, after having been considerably delayed because of the major engineering work required to preserve the Garden Battery, a 19th century fortification system that was not originally scheduled to be conserved according to the Outline Development Permit.