Transport minister Joe Mizzi this evening refused to directly answer a question on whether he consulted the Gzira local council on the controversial bus lane which will turn the promenade into a one-lane road for cars.

“I can assure you everything that had to be done was done. I know what I am saying,” Mr Mizzi told PN MP David Agius in Parliament.

Mr Mizzi said he knows what happened from the general election forward, but would like to know whether the previous government consulted the Gzira council on the matter in 2012.

In previous PQs, Mr Mizzi has said that studies by Transport Malta show that the average number of cars making use of the Valletta-bound road was 763 vehicles per hour at its peak, while the average number of buses was 33 per hour.

Traffic was monitored between September 2014 and January 2015.

Mr Mizzi said a single car lane can handle up to 1,300 cars per hour, leaving a spare capacity of 41 per cent.

The Transport Minister pointed out that the decision to place a bus lane at the Gzira seafront was taken by the previous government.

The bus lane will function around the clock.