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James Debono
In a meeting with the Sliema local council, the prospective developers of the Qui-Si-Sana car park, C&F Building Contractors stated that they intend to charge residents Lm100 per year for each parking permit.
The prospective developers of the Chalet and the Sliema promenade at Ghar id-Dud have also offered to exempt households with less than three cars from this payment, effectively setting a Lm300 annual charge for a husband, wife and their daughter if they each own a car.
A map presented to the council traces the area covered by the so-called Residents Parking Scheme (RPZ) stretching from Qui-Si-Sana to the top of Dingli Street, covering Tower Road, Cathedral street and Saint Mary’s street.
C&T would be responsible for managing the scheme for the first three years, according to the development brief for the Qui-Si-Sana car park project.
Labour councillor Martin Debono questions the legality of a parking scheme by the developers of the car park: “it is illegal for the contractor to take over the running of the RPZ as this should be the responsibility of the legally elected council.”
Debono claims C&F is merely interested in creating a market for its car park by limiting access to surface parking to visitors, while charging residents to park in their own street.
In the meantime the Sliema local council has applied to administer an RPZ on ten streets in the same area earmarked by C&F.
Green Party councillor Michael Briguglio says the local council’s proposal for the RPZ would allocate a part of each road in the scheme for the needs of non-residents: “our starting point is not that of creating a market for the Qui-Si-Sana car park, but that of catering for the needs of residents without denying parking access to non-residents.”
Briguglio contends that although the scheme would alleviate parking problems, the main priority should be that of improving public transport.
The Sliema commercial community is also discussing this issue, concerned the RPZ and the Qui-Si-Sana car park will divert commerce away from the heart of the town to the luxury Qui-Si-Sana and Tigné developments. The latest plans for the Qui-Si-Sana car park also include a restaurant, a bar, a bowling alley, a gym and a 120-seat theatre.
Malta Chamber of SMEs (GRTU) president for leisure and hospitality Philip Fenech says the issue was discussed during a meeting for the Sliema commercial community held on Thursday: “we will be insisting that any parking scheme will cater for the needs of both shop-owners and residents.”
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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