Government’s drive towards achieving climate neutrality is in full swing and a lot of effort is being made to reach a number of targets across various sectors. Transport accounts for 35% of GHG emissions and thus one of the main sectors where more efforts are necessary.
When it comes to climate change, every single one of us can take action, and can contribute towards achieving our goals for more sustainable transport and climate neutrality.
It is important for us to find solutions to strengthen our national transport system and to make it smarter, and more sustainable.
Achieving carbon neutrality is no small feat, and more so when it comes to the decarbonization of transport, considering our strong dependence on the use of the private car combined with the limited space available due to the high urbanization of our country.
We as government are committed to facilitating a just transition towards increased sustainable mobility, however solutions to our transport model are not solely a transport matter.
Transport impacts all sectors of our economy including energy, the environment, the health and wellbeing of our citizens, and educational awareness, to mention some. The transition we are working for will lead to new skills, more reliance on digital and green solutions.
The government is already incentivising the use of electric cars: we are committed to electrify the public transport fleet where we have a commitment of changing 121 buses to electric by 2030, we extended the free public transport system to all tallinja card holders since 1st October and we are also developing projects to promote increased active mobility across our road network. We are also looking at a mass transit system.
We are committed to continue to invest in improved transport infrastructure to enable modal shift and ensure a more effective and sustainable transport system.
To encourage a modal shift from private car use to collective, sustainable and alternative transport modes, the government has been investing in maritime ferry services through the provision of new landing sites across the Maltese Islands. €5 million investment has been secured through the European Regional Development fund to provide safer infrastructure for passengers of this alternative mode of transport in Bormla and Sliema. Upgrading works shall also commence on the Marsamxett ferry landing terminal in Valletta. This investment will be complemented with the Vertical Access connection which will provide easy access towards the rest of Valletta. Discussions are ongoing to facilitate the connection between different transportation systems that are available in the area to ensure a seamless connection in our capital city.
Following the introduction of the fast ferry service between Gozo and Valletta, the government will continue investing in more ferry connections across the islands including that at St Paul’s Bay. We are committed to improve Malta’s sea public transport infrastructure with increased comfort and safety to commuters and the provision of appropriate facilities for the ferries to ensure it is considered as a plausible option for daily commuting. The idea is also to facilitate increased connections between the different modes of public transport, both maritime and road-based, through the provision of real-time information to ensure seamless journeys.
We are also committed towards increased active mobility. Stretches of cycling lanes have been introduced along the road network, pedestrian bridges such as in Blata l-Bajda, Marsa Junction and near MCAST have been built to allow for safer access to commuters and promenades are being widened to allow for more pedestrianisation and space for cyclists in our highly urbanized areas.
Further investment will be continued in this area through the €35 million investment plan that I have announced in recent days and which we will deliver throughout the coming years.
This project will result in additional cycling and walking routes along Malta’s road network with the initial routes covering key intersecting locations from Valletta to Msida and Ħamrun as well as from Marsa to Valletta.
My Ministry together with the Department for Local Government and Local Councils is also committed to implement the Slow Streets initiative in different localities across Malta. Our first commitment is to start implementation of this concept in three localities.
This investment will see a number of local streets which will be transformed into pedestrian zones or streets with lower speed for vehicles in order to give the opportunity to the community to enjoy the space available within towns and villages. In this way we are giving additional free and unencumbered open public space to the community and priority to pedestrians and bicycles so that they can move around easily and safely.
In our drive towards increased sustainability and decarbonization of our transport system, awareness and information campaigns are crucial to ensure that the public and all stakeholders are well informed on the benefits of moving towards more sustainable and greener mobility.
The government will soon be launching a number of campaigns spread over the coming three years in order to promote further use of different modes of transport in our daily life.
Our culture is dominated by the use of the private car therefore we need to embrace the need to move away from such mode and give space to other sustainable and greener modes in our everyday life.
We are not here saying that cars will be removed from our roads, because we need to be realistic, but we are here promoting how different modes such as public bus transport, ferry services, cycling, mopeds, scooters and walking can all be accessible and efficient to make some of our journeys.
We are working to find smart solutions to make it easy to combine different modes of transport in a single journey. The use of technology and digitalization in this area will have a huge positive impact on what we want to achieve, and this is something that we are working on in order to provide the citizen and all users with an enjoyable experience on our roads.
We know that safety in our roads is an important topic where further effort is needed, this is more so for commuters to feel more confident to use alternative and greener modes. Road safety is a priority for this government, and we will be working on a strategy to ensure that all these modes can safely share the road.
Together we can shape the mobility of the future.