The Swieqi residents have now been informed that Triq il-Qasam in Swieqi will be one of the roads that will be resurfaced in the coming weeks. Extremely welcome news at last.

I am therefore taking this opportunity, possibly the last occasion, to advise the authorities to tackle the following long-standing issue before this principal road is tarmacked, this being a long-awaited exercise indeed.

The area: Triq il-Qasam, Swieqi, between the St Andrews Dispensary and the Pavillion Palace Oriental Restaurant just off the main St Andrews Road.

The complaint: Between these two outlets, we residents have been complaining through the Swieqi local council, and the pertinent government authorities, that we do not have an acceptable pedestrian pathway, in fact, what is supposedly a pavement, suddenly comes a cropper in that the pedestrian is obliged to move onto the main road. Extremely dangerous, is it not?

The local council notified us that the main obstacle to this being realised is that the owners of some of the buildings along this stretch of road consider the area theirs and therefore is ‘privately-owned’. The area is very dangerous, with two-way traffic, and is extremely restricted.

We local residents want safe passageways to be able to walk along such a popular residential area. And how come the authorities did not look into such issues when the road in Triq il-Qasam was being considered, widened etc? People with perambulators, and in wheel chairs, are totally risking their lives trying to make any headway through this particular stretch of road.

The opposite side of this section of the road is even worse: There is no pavement at all. A section of some garage/store is protruding into the road thus reducing the width to uncomfortable proportions. Disgraceful to say the least!

We, Swieqi residents, strongly request a safe pedestrian pathway between the Dispensary and the Oriental Restaurant, please.

Only government can ever have this project materialised, and this must be done at the same time, or prior to Triq il-Qasam being tarmacked. Get this problem solved: Nothing is impossible; it only takes an effort and some goodwill to find the required solution!

We residents of Swieqi look up to government for concrete action.

A.E. Camilleri

Swieqi