Ten NGOs and several academics have come together to formulate a document in which they urged the government to rethink and revaluate its plans for the Msida Creek project while providing their own proposals in anticipation of a public consultation.

The project was announced in 2019, proposing the introduction of two 175-metre long flyovers instead of the traffic lights junction connecting Triq Marina, Triq il-Wied tal-Imsida and Triq Mikiel Anton Vassalli. This junction sees more than 4,500 vehicles an hour and the flyovers are meant to make roads safer and more efficient roads. These plans are still at screening stage.

On Thursday, ten NGOs and several academics raised concern over these plans saying that the government should look beyond the needs of private vehicles and create a major open space that will better quality of life for the community “which needs our attention.”

“Malta is characterised by high population density and limited space so the Msida Creek presents an opportunity for a forward-looking infrastructural solution which facilitates sustainable transport and improves our possibility of meeting ambitious EU targets for reducing emissions,” the document reads.

The NGOs and academics noted that this area sees a lot of commuters and has numerous businesses in the area, not to mention nearby educational institutions (University of Malta and Junior College). “We therefore ask that the objectives and design of this project are re-evaluated to consider the existing community, sensitive environmental and historic context and sustainable transport modes.”

They proposed that this urban landscape is transformed into a new and improved public transport interchange with the potential to provide a major public open space, building on the historic context, strengthening the commercial potential while maximising the potential of the mature trees in the existing playing field. “This has even been suggested by the Planning Authority’s own local plan.”

“We feel it is important to understand the routes/axis which these commuters use and provide the most direct and convenient movement paths to support them and further encourage a shift by others towards the use of sustainable transport modes.”

One the coalition’s main observations and interest are to ensure that that the new infrastructure will deal with the needs of all commuters rather than encouraging traffic to drive through the area (which is not part of the TEN-T network) without interruption and therefore potentially at higher speeds.

Secondly, they want to see the proritisation of active mobility and facilitating the cycling experience as well as walking by providing direct and accessible paths as using lifts and stairs to cross the bridges above the vehicular traffic will create an added inconvenience, which can tehn lead to people resorting to private transport.

It also noted that the measure for this area according to the National Transport Master Plan 2025 is to “improve provisions for pedestrians, cycling and public transport and change functionality to redirect through traffic onto the TEN-T network”.

Additionally, the National Transport Strategy 2050 states that one of its goals is to support social inclusion and development, more specifically, that the development of transport infrastructure should aim to reduce severance and adverse impact on specific communities by reducing the impact of traffic in town centres, with the aim of improving the quality of the public realm to support cohesion of communities.

“The Msida Creek area is identified in the North Harbour Local Plan as the local town centre of Msida. This could also be an opportunity to increase the provision of recreational green space for the wider community.”