Since planning is still car-centric rather than people-centric, problems created by traffic keep increasing, ADPD-The Green Party said Saturday.

ADPD Chairperson, Sandra Gauci, spoke about the proposed Msida flyover project a little distance away, which at first looks ambitious, but is in fact nothing more than yet another glorified monument to cars.

It is another mediocre attempt to alleviate traffic. As we have seen from other road projects, the intended solutions failed as traffic jams remain and will remain, unless we have serious policies, aimed to incentivise other more sustainable alternative modes of transport, including public transport.

Gauci stressed that the proposed infrastructure promotes car use. A bus lane isn’t even contemplated.  It is all too easy to propose large projects with lots of pomp and eye-catching artist’s impressions, whilst new ideas and solutions envisaging less cars remain elusive.

We have a government which wants to retain the status quo, proposing huge projects, which on paper give the impression that they will be beneficial but in fact are more of the same mistakes, further increasing over-reliance on cars. Cycle lanes and pedestrian paths are included but it seems without much thought. Msida is a polluted area and will remain so.

This is an area where people commute on foot, which is positive, and which must be given due importance and respect. Projects of such magnitude are wrong, even on paper, as they put cars at the centre and not people. With this mentality traffic will keep increasing, ended Gauci.