Gozo may soon be getting its first bendy bus as part of the public transport reform. And if so, the upgraded public transport terminus at Victoria will have its own dedicated bay ready for it.

This, and more, emerged from yesterday’s Mepa board hearing which approved the upgrading.

Architect David Vassallo from Transport Malta explained that the new bus system will aim at better use of buses. Instead of being used for only 15 per cent of the time, as is the case now, they will be used for at least half the time. Hence there will be fewer buses at the termini – the Valletta terminus will only have 14 buses at any one time.

Hence a large area of the Victoria terminus will be extra to requirements and will be turned into a large landscaped area.

All existing buildings will be demolished, there will be better facilities for pedestrians and all the walkway to the buses will be covered. Apart from a bay for the bendy bus, there will only be five other bays for buses.

However, in reply to questions by the board, Mr Vassallo said little seating capacity will be on offer, even though the buses will operate 24 hours a day and there will be less frequency of buses.

The Mepa board also approved three applications which regard schools. It approved an extension for sports facilities to the new Ta’ Zokrija school in Mosta including the rehabilitation of a farmhouse in the vicinity to be turned to educational use as a farm for the students to learn about farming.

The Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools appealed against a ruling that banned the use of floodlights for the sports ground since that would mean this cannot be used after dark.

The Mepa board also approved an application for the construction of a new school for girls to be built near the new school for boys at Tal-Handaq.

The application also called for the demolition of some buildings to make way for the new school and it was this feature that attracted criticism. Roderick Galdes MP, who had been a student at the Tal-Handaq Junior Lyceum, complained at the planned demolition of the buildings. This had been a naval school since 1947 and former students will not be able to identify the buildings they once went to school in. Besides, it was healthy for students to walk from one classroom to the other and cross to another building.

Besides, originally, this new school had been announced to be next to the Qormi football ground.

FTS’ Ray Fenech replied he understood Mr Galdes’s ‘nostalgia’ but many of the buildings were not accessible. Nor were the rooms big enough for today’s standards which ask for 65 sq m rooms for 25 students.

The new building will be a continuous building, S-shaped, and will contain 24 technology / art workshops / labs, 30 clinics, offices, stores and 44 classrooms built in three storeys.

Furthermore:

• Buildings to be retained: Building 22, building 23 and building 24.

• Buildings to be demolished: 9,10,11,12, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21.

• Buildings to be relocated: 13, 14, 15, and 28.

Among the buildings which will be retained, there is the gym, which as Mepa official Joseph Magro Conti explained, was built by the services and even today is still state-of-the-art with a suspended floor and gymnastics equipment. Also, the theatre will be preserved.

The Mepa board also approved an application for car parking and an access road for this school. All drop-offs and pick-ups will henceforth be done inside the school premises, rather than on the Tal-Handaq Road.

Finally the Mepa board also approved the construction of a kiosk at Xatt ir-Risq. Originally, the application was for two kiosks, one near the Freedom Monument and one on the ro-ro ramp, both larger than the final footprint.

However the applicants were persuaded to settle for one application. Even so, the application risked not being approved after the GHRC expressed concern that the footprint in this application may not be the same as the one approved in the recent permit for the landscaping work from the Freedom Monument to the Regatta Club. The application was only approved after the insertion of a clause which says that the landscaping design as approved must prevail.

The case officer could only say the proposed footprint was ‘substantially’ the same as that approved in the previous application, adding that the façade was somewhat longer.