“The present administration seems to be determined to push the Sliema Traffic Plan through against the wishes of the vast majority of residents and the business community,” Simon Camilleri, chairman of the Qui-Si-Sana residents association, told MaltaToday, adding that the residents no longer trust the planning or transport authorities to safeguard their interests in the matter.
According to the Malta Transport Authority (ADT)’s plans, traffic will have to round the entire Tigne/Qui-Si-Sana peninsula to reach the Strand, because Bisazza Street will become completely traffic-free.
The residents’ association thanked Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo for intervening on their behalf with the Prime Minister to stop commercial development of the proposed Qui-Si-Sana car park, but is still seething at the government’s refusal to withdraw an application for the re-direction of traffic towards the Tigne/MIDI project.
Last month, Arrigo asked Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett to withdraw the new traffic plans. Although Mugliett refused to do so, Arrigo appeared satisfied by the Minister’s answer when contacted by MaltaToday.
According to Arrigo the plan is “not cast in stone, and any traffic deviations will only be done, if ultimately done at all, after proper, full and direct consultations.”
Arrigo also welcomed Mugliett’s declaration that the project will be implemented in phases.
“As Minister Mugliett rightly said, and I agree, the various interests of all residents and visitors will be integrated into one, the strand town core will remain… I agree with the phased process that has us proved right, much to the dismay of the alarmists who love creating havoc.”
Arrigo also warned residents against listening to alarmists claiming that “with the car park issue becoming a non-issue now, thanks to a direct dialogue, some politicians must keep the opposition fire burning in the Qui-Si-Sana area.”
Reacting to Arrigo, Simon Camilleri thanked the Nationalist MP for being “the only Sliema MP who listened to Qui-Si-Sana residents when we needed support.” He also thanked him for being “consistently available for advice and help with the problems brought about by the plans to develop Tigne and Qui-Si-Sana.”
According to Camilleri the car park is “on hold” chiefly because of Arrigo’s intervention in arranging a dialogue with the Prime Minister.
“We are extremely grateful for this; however we still maintain that there is no need for the construction of yet another car park in the Tigne peninsula.”

But Camilleri forcefully rejects any notion that the residents’ association has a political agenda.
“We have no political agenda; our only brief is to protect the interests of the residents. We have no faith in MEPA or the ADT’s ability to do this. The government’s actions are alarming. The ADT has put its plan into action before the consultation process even started. Although this is contrary to EU law, MEPA has accepted it and is processing the application.”
Camilleri welcomes that fact that a form of consultation has started after pressure was exerted on the ADT.
“However this administration has a history of broken promises in this regard. Those made to the business community by Ministers George Pullicino, Edwin Vassallo and Jesmond Mugliett in 2006 were reversed a few weeks later, immediately after the Sliema Council election.”
On that occasion, Minister Mugliett had promised a land reclamation project to save traffic spaces on the Strand and thus accommodate businesses who fear that the project will simply displace Sliema town core to MIDI.
Camilleri also expressed total disagreement with the proposed Traffic Plan. “The area is already primed for disastrous congestion because of MEPA’s benevolent attitude to development and the ADT’s slipshod planning.”
The mother of all problems, according to Camilleri, is MIDI’s failure to accommodate two-way traffic in the tunnel linking the project to the road network.
“One condition imposed by the government on MIDI was to construct a two-way tunnel from the Fortina to Qui-Si-Sana. Despite repeated enquiries to MEPA and the ADT, there has been no satisfactory explanation as to why this has suddenly changed.”
Camilleri contends that all traffic studies and projections for the Tigne peninsula were based on a two-way model.
“The MIDI tunnel fiasco has, at a stroke, invalidated them all. The indications now are that major jams will take place at the projected roundabouts near Fort Cambridge and the Fortina Hotel, causing massive delays and tailbacks.”
According to the residents’ association, the ADT’s new plans actively encourage the use of Tigne’s residential streets as major traffic routes.
“This is bungled planning at its worst. Traffic will have to enter and exit Sliema through Rudolph Street, High Street and St Julian’s in order to avoid the jams in the Tigne peninsula.”
Camilleri considers Sliema Labour councillor Martin Debono’s plan as far more acceptable to both the residential and the business communities.
“Were Bisazza Street to remain open, with the pavements widened, this would considerably relieve pressure on the MIDI tunnel and roundabouts. Again, both the residential and the business communities are in agreement on this.”
For all Arrigo’s efforts to listen to residents, it seems that Qui-Si-Sana will remain a hotbed of dissent for the Nationalist Party on the eve of a watershed election.
 
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt