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James Debono
Tension was high during a heated Sliema local council meeting earlier this week, when it was revealed Nationalist councillors had met with Minister for Urban Development Jesmond Mugliett on the contents of the new plan linking the Qui-Si-Sana car park project and the nearby commercial development of Tigné.
Labour councillor Martin Debono, and Alternattiva Demokratika councillor Michael objected to the meeting the PN councillors held behind the rest of the council, in which PN councillors were given privileged viewing of a plan approved by the Malta Transport Authority (ADT), drawn up in consultation with Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA).
PN councillors Michael Pace Ross said the meeting was held after Mugliett’s declaration on Net TV that work on the Qui-Si-Sana car park will start soon: “I was personally annoyed that we learned of this news from TV. Following this we asked for a meeting with the Minister,” Pace Ross said, rebutting protestations from Briguglio and Debono. “As Nationalist councillors we have a right to meet anyone we like.”
Sliema Mayor Albert Bonello Du Puis added: “we have the majority and we can meet anyone we like.”
The Sliema council approved a call for public consultation on the Qui-Si-Sana car park and how this project will fit in with the Tigné development. The request has been also accepted by the ministry for urban development: “it is our intention to hold such a meeting even because we feel that there is a lot of misinformation which needs to be corrected,” a ministry spokesperson said.
The ministry has however shunned any responsibility on the matter of the controversial commercial development which would turn the proposed car park in a leisure park and bowling alley. “The commercial development is a MEPA issue,” the ministry said on whether the public consultation will include any reference to the nearby commercial development.
MEPA has however refused to hold public consultation on the development.
Following their meeting with Mugliett however, the PN councillors voted unanimously first against an MLP-AD motion requesting full information from MEPA on developers’ plans – citing the Aarhus convention which obliges full disclosure of environmental information – and then to approve a motion which “reiterated the council’s stand in favour of the car park.”
Objections were raised by the AD and Labour councillors at the inclusion of this phrase, claiming the council had already reversed its original stand in favour of the car park, by special resolution back in January 2005.
The council had back then overturned its original stand in favour of the Qui-Si-Sana car park by approving a special resolution proposed by AD and MLP councillors in favour of renewed public consultation by MEPA on the entire project, including its commercial aspect.
The resolution had split the PN vote, with two councillors abstaining and PN councillor Anthony Mallia voting in favour of the resolution. Mayor Albert Bonello Du Puis voted against the motion.
In the last meeting however, Mallia declared his vote in January was an objection to the commercialisation of the project, and not against the car park.
The PN councillors, who according to a ministry spokesperson had been requesting the meeting “for some time”, however did not give any details of the new plans during the last council meeting.
It has emerged however that the ADT had been liaising with the MIDI consortium, the developers of the nearby Tigné development, on the completion of the tunnel on the Tigné road system.
A ministry spokesperson said: “it soon became evident the entire road system in Tigné needed studying in order to ascertain that slip roads and merging lanes were planned taking into account a comprehensive view of the whole area.”
One of the major concerns of Qui-Si-Sana residents with the proposed car park is the increase in air pollution and noise resulting from an increase in traffic due to the Qui-Si-Sana car park development and the diversion of traffic resulting from the pedestrianisation of Bisazza Street.
The ADT has also studied the possibility of extending the tunnel up to the vicinity of Tower Road, earlier proposed by Alternattiva Demokratika to protect residents from noise and air pollution.
The ministry however said the tunnel was not feasible due to difficulties linked to “services, connection of tunnel to local traffic, safety and cost.” The number of lanes required, including the merging lanes, would result in the encroachment of the tunnel system onto the Qui-Si-Sana shore.
With more development contemplated for Fort Cambridge, which lies beneath the Crowne Plaza hotel at Tigné, the ADT was again asked for its input on access to this site, prompting new considerations into the implications of the proposed Qui-Si-Sana car park.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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