The implementation of the mass transport system being studied would take 15-20 years, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday.

Prime Minister Robert Abela was being interviewed on OneTV.

Abela addressed the mass transport project. He said that it is not a solution that would materialize by tomorrow. He said that the government is acting, having hired ARUP, which had carried out a number of studies a few years ago for a metro that would have cost more than €6bn.

Abela said that the cost would have been massive for the country, and the government asked ARUP to conduct another study, which also considers the funds needed to invest, "and they came back with a plan that costs €3bn."

Now the government moved to the next stage, Abela said. "They asked if we are interested in continuing with studies, we gave them funding. We will look at viability, in terms of whether this can be done without people paying a lot for using the service, what the public service obligation would be as it is evident that the state would need to help etc."

Abela said that the point of whether a mass transport system would be free to use is something that needs to be discussed. He questioned: "does the country afford to do it for free for users, or at a strongly subsidized fee? Those are studies that need to be done."

"This is not a question of signing an MoU and just doing it, as whoever reasons like that is dangerous. Saying yes to something which you do not know what the impact will be on the country's finances is dangerous as if this project is done badly, the country's finances would collapse."

"If we are going for a Metro, and I wish to go in the direction of a metro, we need to be certain of all the steps that we are going to take, not shoot from the hip, say we have a solution for 20 years time and then while carrying out the project realise that you've hit a wall."

"We need to do things well and that is what we are doing through discussions with experts who are also looing at the technical aspect. So far they came to us with two major lines with feeder buses to other localities, and a project which is not all below ground. While their first studies had indicated a completely below ground project, now they are looking at three types, parts below ground, some on it and some above as though when you have a flyover, but we would not pass over people's property. But there are a lot of complexities." He said London has an underground but they still have a traffic problem.

He said that in terms of an implementation timeline for such a project, it would be 15-20 years.

He was asked about the traffic situation, and mentioned infrastructural projects that the government has undertaken over the years, like Central Link, the Kappara junction and others which were needed.

Regarding the works in Msida, Abela announced that this coming week the first flyover will be inaugurated and begin to be used. He said that this project will help a lot in terms of the area's traffic flow. He said that if it were up to the PN, that project would not have been done.

Abela said that the project is being carried out completely by Maltese contractors. He stressed that the traffic problem is not something that can be solved by a single measure. I can be populist and say that through mass transport we would address the whole problem, but that would not be realistic or genuine. It takes many measures together."

He said the government increased the number of public transport routes and frequency, adding that frequency can be further increased. He also mentioned the use of sea transport. "Today we made it free for all residents."

He said that the narrative that public transport is only used by foreigners id disproven by statistics.

Regarding other measures that can be taken to reduce traffic, he mentioned the idea of changing the times for the distribution of shop goods. He said they have been debating about it a lot.

He also spoke against the idea of introducing disincentives for people to use their vehicles. He said that the government works with incentives, such as plans to give funds to people to give up their license.

Asked questions related to the wars, Abela said that since 2022 there have been two wars with no end in sight. Regarding the Middle East, he said there was development, "but was not as positive as we thought."

Regarding Ukraine, he said that next week there will be a hot European Council meeting. EU leaders are going to discuss at a summit next week how to use the tens of billions of euros in Russian Central Bank assets to underwrite a huge loan to help Ukraine meet its financial and military needs over the next two years.

He said that until now there is "no agreement on the position we will take regarding the reparations loan to Ukraine."

He said that while Malta agrees with backing the Ukraine, "the direction the EU is going with this supposed loan of around €140bn, that could open us up to major attacks in terms of fiscal responsibility from Russia... we need to be careful about the direction we head in, not to take decisions today that will break the EU market which is today already not competitive." He said that Russia will definitely retaliate economically. "We need to be certain about what we are doing, that while we remain in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and continue committing to sending support, we don't use instruments that can cause questions which today we might not even understand how big the repercussions could be."

"The word peace is nowhere in this," Abela said.

Abela said that the war can only be won around the diplomacy table. The alternative is to continue financing billions and the war continue indefinitely, he said.