Government projects aimed at mitigating traffic congestion “take time to complete”, Transport Minister Ian Borg told The Malta Independent when asked about recent increases in traffic congestion seen across the island. 

Traffic congestion has been the topic of discussion on everyone’s mind throughout the recent weeks as traffic jams along Malta’s roads increased. The focus comes particularly given that a number of capital projects, the sole purpose of which is to mitigate traffic, have been completed recently – with many people being left wondering what more could be done. 

Borg said that “the government is aware of the problem and has been working on this issue for a number of years. These works include projects such as the Marsa junction project and the Central Link. The challenges are still there nonetheless there and there is still a lot of work to do.” 

During the reading of the 2022 Budget, the government also laid out a long term plan to change the mentality of transport in the country. One of the major proposals was the free public transport to all Maltese residents as from October 2022. “With regards to the free public transport we are currently looking at the needs for capacity building in order to ensure an efficient bus system given the expected influx of passengers.” 

Borg also said that apart from land transport, together with Infrastructure Malta and Transport Malta, the government is also looking at viable sea transport across the island. “Infrastructure Malta and Transport Malta are working together to bridge the logistical problems present and create new routes of transport on the sea.” 

“This is a challenge which requires us to take multiple approaches and initiatives in order to tackle it,” Borg said.

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