The Malta Independent on Sunday
Infrastructure Malta forges ahead with Swieqi roadworks despite local council’s objection
Infrastructure Malta has been called out by Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat to have proceeded with a roadwork proposal for St Andrew’s Road that the local council had opposed.
“It is sheer madness from many aspects, and it hits strongly in the face all that the local council has been fighting for over many months,” stated Muscat.
Muscat told The Malta Independent on Sunday that the Swieqi local council and Infrastructure Malta had previously agreed on a different proposal for this principal TEN-T road corridor which saw a roundabout on St Andrew’s Road opposite IlQasam Road and the Luxol football grounds.
He said IM had even applied for a PA permit for this project plan (doc 378a), but without informing the local council had decided to go with the plan that the local council had opposed.
Muscat noted how there were on-going discussions for alternative, safer and more efficient junctions for the busy stretch which links to and from the Coast Road.
In turning Il-Qasam Road and L-Ibraġ Road exits into a oneway, directing all traffic North towards Madliena, IM decided to turn this road into a fast doublecarriageway road, joining the Regional Road to the Coast Road.
The local council had repeatedly voiced their concern that these road closures would increase the already problematic traffic-prone roundabout below Perkursur Road.
Muscat told this newsroom how this would result in drivers now having to “hedge their bets” to join the main road as IM are only leaving the Il-Qasam Road traffic light junction near the zebra crossing, from the four present between L-Ibraġ Road and the entry to Pembroke.
The mayor added that he cannot understand why IM chose to place concrete bollards and not plastic poles since on other roadwork sites, just two weeks ago, other bollards placed nearby had resulted in flooding the road as rainwater was blocked to one lane.
He noted how “disappointed” he was that he was only informed about IM’s decision one day prior to forging ahead with their plan which saw concrete bollards being placed along the road.
Muscat told this newsroom that he had even called the Prime
Minister to intervene but to no avail as “it is evident that our requests are being ignored,” said the mayor.
“It is clear that the interests of the Swieqi residents are not a priority to IM,” continued Muscat.
“This is untenable now and will certainly create chaos and havoc when the nearby schools open. The Council keeps incessantly requesting Infrastructure Malta to take heed of our concerns and
amend their plans to meet our proposals, but we are being systematically ignored! Infrastructure Malta’s attitude towards the well-being of our residents is deplorable,” Muscat stated.
Muscat concluded that in “ignoring the interests of Swieqi residents”, Infrastructure Malta is simply “out to achieve its own aim” and that therefore, the council is “prepared to discuss the matter further with the authorities and is determined to oppose with all its strength the current proposal unless it is favourably revised.”
Infrastructure Malta’s response
The “allegations that the Swieqi local council is not being consulted and informed about the on-going works are untrue,” a spokesperson for Infrastructure Malta told The Malta Independent on Sunday.
Il-Qasam Road is to be turned into a one-way since IM decided it was not wide enough to safely accommodate bi-directional traffic flows, said the spokesperson.
This road is “currently obstructed by old buildings which have not yet been rebuilt to the area’s schemed alignments established by the PA’s local plans. Thus, it would be unsafe to keep this road open in both directions,” stated the spokesperson.
After studying some of the Swieqi Local Council proposals for Sant’ Andrija Road, some were found to be “unsustainable” due to increasing safety risks, retaining existing accident blind spots, and causing increased travel times along this critical arterial road, the spokesperson said.
In directing traffic to the recently completed roundabout below Perkursur Road, Sant’ Andrija Road users are able to follow a “safer route” by joining the southbound lanes or alternatively using other southbound exits from Swieqi to San Ġwann and St Julian’s, the spokesperson added.
In an attempt to remove the current one-lane bottleneck on Sant’ Andrija Road in the northbound direction towards Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, the on-going works will include the rebuilding of part of the northbound carriageway to have four lanes of uniform width, two in each direction as opposed to the current where two lanes merge into one then back to two lanes.
IM will be introducing a new footpath alongside the southbound which will be extended further south towards Pembroke in the second phase of the project.
PN backs up Swieqi Local council’s objection to IM’s roadworks
The Nationalist Party is backing the Swieqi local council’s objection to the current roadworks being carried out on St Andrew’s Road by Infrastructure Malta.
The PN held a press conference on this topic addressed by Nationalist Party candidate Karl Gouder and Swieqi Mayor Noel Muscat.
In his address, Gouder noted the PN’s disapproval of IM’s roadwork plans for St. Andrew’s Road and urged for the concrete bollards currently placed on the road to be reconsidered, seeing as they had just resulted in a flooding hazard during recent rainfall.
Gouder stated that if elected to government, the Nationalist Party promises to “give dignity to local councils and not run roughshod to their concerns as the current government is doing − reducing the strength of local councils year by year.”
Gouder added that the PN understands how in order to guarantee a better quality of life for residents, residents’ concerns need to be addressed as a priority and that therefore, the PN will increase resources for local councils.
The Swieqi local council and Infrastructure Malta had previously agreed on a different proposal for this principal TEN-T road corridor which saw a roundabout on St Andrew’s Road opposite Il-Qasam Road and the Luxol football grounds.
However, as Muscat noted, IM then “changed their minds” and proposed a new plan – the one currently being ensued – which will result in only one entry into Swieqi remaining, that from LIbraġ Road, with the other current three entries turned into one-ways directed north towards Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.
Muscat said that the local council immediately put forward “clear objections but not only did IM ignore them but they only notified him that they will be going ahead with this opposed plan a day before they started the works.”