The controversial St. Julian’s – Pembroke road network upgrade, set to include the infamous Pembroke tunnel, has had its application suspended pending the completion of certain studies.
The PA website showed that “application processing is currently suspended at the perit's request.” As such, The Malta Independent sent a number of questions to Infrastructure Malta about this, and the agency, among other things, said that “the Planning Authority and other entities requested that Infrastructure Malta supplements its plans with several technical studies, which will be required in the final decision-making process. As per normal procedure, Infrastructure Malta asked the Authority to put the application on hold until these studies are carried out.”
The agency was asked by this newsroom to provide the reason for the application’s suspension, whether any changes to the plans are being considered, whether the application was suspended due to complaints, whether Infrastructure Malta were considering making changes to the plan given complaints that were lodged by, among others, the Corinthia Group, and whether the project is still on the cards.
An Infrastructure Malta representative responded: “In 2019, Infrastructure Malta announced plans to develop four new tunnels and reconstruct St Andrew’s Road to improve the safety and efficiency of the arterial connections in Pembroke, St Julian’s and other nearby areas and localities.”
The Pembroke-St Julian’s Connections project extends from the Coast Road to Regional Road, before the Manwel Dimech Bridge and the northern portals of the Ta’ Giorni Tunnels, an Infrastructure Malta representative explained. “It includes the reconstruction of St Andrew’s Road and part of the Coast Road in a new four-lane design, to eliminate several traffic lights junctions and other bottlenecks along this route, as well as four new tunnels to facilitate safer and quicker access to and from Pembroke, Paceville, St Julian’s and Swieqi. Through these upgrades, Infrastructure Malta is optimising the capacity and connections of the region’s road network to reduce through traffic in several residential roads in Pembroke, Swieqi and St Julian’s and the resulting air pollution and accident risks, whilst developing the necessary infrastructure to meet the area’s future transportation requirements.”
“Soon after announcing this project, Infrastructure Malta submitted the required documentation to the planning and environmental authorities to launch the planning application process. The Planning Authority made the plans of this proposal available online for public consultation in the final quarter of 2019, whilst Infrastructure Malta started meeting several stakeholders, including the local councils that will benefit from this project and other national entities and authorities, to discuss and refine these plans. Whilst this outreach is ongoing, all suggestions and concerns made during the last months are now being reviewed by Infrastructure Malta’s planning team. Any feasible improvements will be incorporated in the project plans. Stakeholders interested in this development are encouraged to get in touch with Infrastructure Malta to discuss their suggestions.”
“At the same time, the Planning Authority and other entities requested that Infrastructure Malta supplements its plans with several technical studies, which will be required in the final decision-making process. As per normal procedure, Infrastructure Malta asked the Authority to put the application on hold until these studies are carried out,” the representative said.
“The application was not put on hold due to complaints, and the project cannot be scrapped. In fact, this infrastructural investment is urgently needed to ensure that this part of Malta’s arterial road network and of the EU’s TEN-T network can safely and sustainably meet current and future transport requirements. The upgrade of this road corridor, including the removal of its bottlenecks, is also listed as one of the top infrastructural priorities of the TEN-T network in the Malta Transport Master Plan 2025.”
“Infrastructure Malta will ensure that the ongoing planning process is supported with all necessary resources, so that the authorities are provided with all data required to conclude it. The agency is committed to continue working to improve the quality, safety, sustainability and efficiency of Malta’s infrastructure.”
The application itself has seen quite a bit of scrutiny, and a number of objections filed.
Last November, International Hotel Investment plc (IHI), a company that owns three hotels in Pembroke including the Corinthias, had objected to the proposed Pembroke tunnel for example, arguing that as a result of the proposal as it was, “apart from the permanent adverse impact on access to its operations, the company’s operations will also be greatly affected negatively during the construction period as a result of works to be undertaken on the tunnels.”