I refer to the letter from the mayor of the Gudja local council entitled “Parking problems for Gudja residents”(TMIS, 19 August).

The mayor said that, “the fact that this has now caught the attention of the media will help to bring awareness of this problem at a national level.” I ask the mayor, “Did it have to be the petition of the Hal Rezqun residents and the vicinity for the matter to proceed? Will this now bring more awareness to this problem?” We will continue to use the media until this parking problem is solved. You are aware that Transport Malta (TM) had the same problem in other places and solved them.

Many a time, non-residents leave their cars parked for a number of days or many hours because the car owners are either abroad or working a long shift, and arguments arise between the car owners and residents. When the residents want to use the space in front of their houses, the non-residents’ reply is rude, or they say that since they paid the road licence they have the right to park wherever they want because there is no sign showing that they cannot do so. I’d like to bring TM’s attention to the fact that some of Triq Hal-Resqun residents’ job is in civil construction and demolition and they need to use low loaders to carry the excavators; therefore they encounter this problem too because most of their space is occupied and, as I said earlier, this leads to serious arguments.

When an ambulance is called in an emergency, which often happens, and the patient needs to be taken out in a stretcher, if the vehicles are parked in front of his/her door, how can one ask the owner to move his vehicle if the owner is a non-resident and he is abroad or working long shift hours?

Transport Malta should know that residents living in the vicinity of the airport, apart from having parking problems, also put up with aircraft noises 24/7 and pollution; also, when the wind blows in our direction there is the added noise and pollution from containers passing from/to the Malta Freeport. We residents should be compensated for all this and not have Transport Malta dragging its feet to solve this parking problem.

I really cannot understand how MIA can have any interest in the parking areas in Gudja. The interest of MIA is to develop its area. Mr Mayor, don’t you think that when the MIA project SKYPARKS is ready the parking problem will increase? MIA cannot oblige its employees not to park in Gudja. Please note that the last development in the new parking area, MIA left no space for the public to walk on the pavement on the side of the main road that is on the side of the VIP gate.

The reason a copy of the petition was given to political members and political clubs in Gudja is because we feel that they have a strong interest in the residents of Gudja.

As for the resurfacing of the Hal Rezqun Road, we thank the local council, because before this was done the road was not even good for horses to use and it was impossible to drive a car, with all the potholes it had. Since the local council resurfaced the road and parking, which was supposed to be for Gudja residents, this served as a good attraction for wardens.

I’d like to tell the mayor, John Mary Calleja, councillor Mark Anthony Sammut and the other members of the council to continue working on this problem for it to be solved as soon as possible.

We ask the local council to keep us informed about any development on the subject.

On behalf of the residents we thank The Malta Independent on Sunday for giving us a chance to voice our opinions.

Joseph Zarb

Alfred Pace

GUDJA