MEPA is the only planning body in Europe that promotes private car use at the expense of public transport. Parking availability generates traffic and, in turn, pollution. In line with the Polluter Pays Principle, European planners adopt maximum parking standards (generally limited to a maximum of one car per residence), with an eco-tax being levied on the developer if that maximum is exceeded. Only in Malta has a converse policy been pursued. Here, a minimum-parking standard of two parking spaces per 3-bedroomed apartment is applied. A “fine” (referred to as CPPS) of e2115 (Lm900) per deficiency is levied on the developer if the minimum standard is not met. Adding insult to injury, this quaint fund-raiser has produced about e5 million from the wrong source (the non-polluter), and for the wrong purpose (more pollution). MEPA intends to invest the cash in public car parks strategically located to make sure that the non-polluting residents do not escape the poisonous fumes produced by non-residential cars. One must spare a thought for the residual residents of High Street, Sliema. Qui-si-Sana residents are enjoying a remission thanks to the sympathetic support of Robert Arrigo MP, and now of his wife.

The area known as The Gardens in St Julian’s is considered one of Malta’s oldest established and most sought after residential areas. The quality of life of its thousand residents now stands to be enhanced with a public car park in their midst, which the current administration has kindly decided to present them with, even if they do not deserve the gift – not to mention the other wonders of Pender Place, such as two 24-storey towers and a pedestrian link with the happy and vibrant leisure zone of Paceville. These residents will never summon sufficient gratitude for the unparalleled response to the pleas they had made to the MPLN coalition, even at the level of their local council headed by that champion of residents’ rights, Mayor Peter Bonello.

No wonder that Malta has the third highest car ownership in the world, after the USA and New Zealand, as well as one of the world’s highest car-to-road ratio (120 cars/km). What does this parameter mean? Essentially it translates into heavy traffic with all its attendant evils, such as abortive fuel consumption with associated pollution and man-hour loss in traffic jams; injury and death on the road; cancer, hypertension and respiratory disease from noxious emissions; chemical erosion and staining of the urban fabric; visual intrusion of cars, whether parked or stuck in traffic; noise and general chaos in the towns and villages; loss of foreign exchange to purchase fossil fuel and vehicles; dependence on politically unstable States; undue exposure to a spiralling fuel surcharge; contribution to global warming; and last but not least – high risk of a hefty European fine if Malta’s carbon emissions exceed the set quota.

One of the best ideas that emerged from MLP’s short turn at single party rule in the 1990s was the “Connections” project. This would have set up all-weather mass transportation between the 12 towns situated on the coastline of Grand Harbour and Marsamxett Harbour. It would have produced dramatic relief the congested road network of the North Harbour zone where 30 per cent of Malta’s traffic circulates. In line with coalition rules (including disagreeing on everything except MP pensions and single party rule), the PN never really embraced the project. That project could also have enabled the transformation of Valletta into a car-free city (except for residents’ cars). Valletta remains one of the very few walled towns of Europe that is still not car-free. The current administration, in its unparalleled wisdom, has eliminated the V-licence and has invited most of the country’s 280,000 cars to access the city centre for a small fee and a not so small dose of added pollution. Incredible but true. In addition to increasing the turnaround volume of extraneous cars, this measure encourages abortive circulation under the false promise of a vacant space somewhere, sometime, leaving behind swathes of carcinogenic emissions to choke out what’s left of the city’s residents. In Rome one cannot drive through the historic centre unless one is a resident. All the walled towns of Europe are car-free, except for neighbourhood cars. Their residents have been protected while retail business has flourished beyond belief. London has imposed a congestion fee for cars that penetrate the central zone. Singapore has limited car importation through a quota controlled by lottery and auction. Not more than one car per family is allowed in the Bahamas. Only in Malta do we specialise in implementing measures that aggravate problems rather than solve them. It has been estimated that the Connections proposal could have produced an annual saving of about e250 million for the country, had it been implemented. With all those proposals to develop the North Harbours, and with Smart City in the pipeline, the Connections project is even more relevant today. It is indeed surprising that the Labour Party appears to have orphaned its brainchild in its Pjan ghal Bidu Gdid. The most important result of the Connections project, nevertheless, would always have been the immense beneficial impact on the traffic scene, in terms of huge congestion relief, faster bus transport and less pollution in the heavily populated North Harbours conurbation.

But what is all this fuss about

pollution?

The levels of Particulate Matter (PM10) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) are now in excess of the safety thresholds stipulated in the European Directive, and rising. With regard to Particulate Matter, MEPA’s own website confirms: “They (fine particles) are carried deep into the lungs and cause inflammation and exacerbate heart and lung disease. They may carry surface-absorbed carcinogenic compounds into the lungs.” In 2001, a team of Maltese medical researchers was commissioned to investigate the incidence of respiratory disease in Fgura and Zabbar. Fgura is a corridor town with much extraneous traffic flowing through its high street. The findings were correlated with an ongoing worldwide survey carried out under the aegis of the WHO. That town’s state of health was, in a sense, diagnosed. Result (brace yourself): Fgura has the highest incidence of respiratory disease in the world. That’s the bad news.

The good news, if such it is, is that Fgura is not alone. The Floriana monitoring station confirms the scenario. Medical specialists have expressed concern about the alarming level of asthma in children, particularly in Sliema. No data is available for zones contiguous with the Regional Road – those Pender Place neighbourhoods again. The request that those residents made to the authorities for pollution to be measured in their locality, fell on deaf ears. As they see their neighbours die, street by street, house by house, they realise that they are being poisoned, slowly but surely. The response to their plea to the Prime Minister and MPs was that the 65-storey tower that Labour had proposed would have been worse – the clearest admission that alternating single party rule has nothing better to offer than a choice between two evils.

Product Malta

The December 2007 issue of the National Geographic Traveller magazine ranks Malta at 82nd place in its list of 111 island destinations, citing pollution as one of the problems. Are we nurturing the goose that lays the golden eggs, or are we killing it? The tourism statistics may be presenting a satisfactory bottom-line right now – an all time record, in fact. As the top players, including the Prime Minister himself, have wisely cautioned, we should not allow the good results to lead us into complacency. Full marks teach no lessons. There may be more to learn from the little telltale signs such as the decline in the Benelux sector, and in the weak rises in the German and Italian ones. There is more environmental sensitivity in these markets than bucket-and-spade.

Mass transit

Successive governments have never given public transport the importance it merits. All vehicles slow down in traffic jams. Buses even more so. The problem of traffic flow has entered a spiralling vicious circle that discourages public transport as it fuels more private car use and the associated pollution. The MLPN coalition has nothing to say about the traffic problem, not in its electoral manifestos. It would not be surprising if the wealthy oligarchy that finances the coalition also includes car importers. A mass transit rail system (MTR) running on electricity and preferably underground – a metro for Malta - should be investigated without further delay. It is only the Green Party that has made suggestions on these lines.

Therefore, as one can see, there are many compelling reasons - especially public health, the economy and Product Malta - for promoting Green transportation and simultaneously discouraging private car use. One must not miss out that other small reason. In its persistent drive to pamper hyper-mobility, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority is producing…Gridlock