Matthew Vella
The Sliema Residents’ Association (SRA) said it was in disagreement with the new residential parking zone launched by the local council, despite being aware of the parking problem encountered by residents.
“Reserved residents’ parking will not solve the real traffic and parking problems within Sliema. This plan offers a rather lopsided fix, which falsely appears to favour Sliema residents – it appears to be another half-baked, ill considered short-term solution.”
The SRA called for a fresh look at Sliema’s traffic system, to reduce traffic influx and introduce alternative modes of transport.
It also said it wanted to see “an end to the ever increasing unsustainable building development which is contributing to the traffic congestion problem by increasing the resident population beyond capacity.”
The SRA said the traffic generated by recent residential and commercial developments had reached absurd proportions. “Residents returning home from work in the evening find no place where to park their cars. By day, people visiting Sliema for commercial, work related, leisure and other purposes also struggle to find parking.”
The SRA, founded as a lobby group to uphold Sliema residents’ rights against excessive development, said building development was “slowly killing the town”.
“Prospective visitors opt not to visit due to the impossible feat of finding a parking space. This is having negative economic and social implications – too often, it is the case that relatives are not visited due to the parking problem. Such a social impact is mostly felt by the elderly, who do not have the luxury of driving themselves. Even if they are able to drive, it may prove impossible to find a parking space within a short walk. This situation is making Sliema unattractive to all.”
The SRA said building more car parks would have a disastrous effect on the overloaded road infrastructure and air pollution safeguards. “More car parking facilities will cause more congestion and pollution in Sliema. Sliema is already unable to handle the current volume of vehicles and this before considering the significant increase in traffic which will be generated by the MIDI and Fort Cambridge mega projects which are not yet used at anywhere near full capacity.”
The SRA that contrary to town planning logic “no realistic plan was announced by MEPA, ADT or by the Sliema local council to alleviate the precarious traffic burden Sliema residents face everyday.”
It said that two years after the council’s decision in favour of a holistic Sliema Traffic Management Plan/Report, this had not yet been drawn up. It urged the new local council to commission the report without further delay.
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