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Car park attendants have had their licence renewed for only three months. After March, the government will be issuing tenders for the management of a number of parking spaces.
The announcement is expected to prompt fears of an increase in parking fees. Malta Transport Authority (ADT) chief executive Gianfranco Selvaggi told MaltaToday the conditions regulating parking in each lot are currently being revised.
Selvaggi also said that while the licences of some car-park attendants might be renewed, others will be terminated and a tender issued. Selvaggi said the ADT’s intention is to incorporate all licensed parking attendants into the new schemes.
MaltaToday is also informed that the licences of five car park attendants at the Strand and Qui-Si-Sana car parks have not been renewed even for the short three-month period. Strand car park attendant Anthony Borg, who has been manning the spaces for 19 years, told this newspaper that when he went to pay for his licence, he was simply told that his licence has been cancelled.
When he protested, he was simply told to write to the ADT chairman. Borg’s version of events was confirmed by other car park attendants in Qui-Si-Sana.
Sliema’s Labour councillor Martin Debono sees the abrupt termination of the licences as a clear indication that after the next council election in March the authorities will be moving ahead with their plans to block customers from parking anywhere close to the existing town centre to the detriment of those working in the area.
Plans shown by Urban Development and Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett to the Qui-Si-Sana residents in November show a reduced car park at the Sliema ferries, down to some 40 spaces from the present 300.
The proposal is in line with the North Harbour Local Plan presented back in 2000 which states that the ferries car park should be upgraded as “a major new public open space to replace the existing car park.”
The plan also states that the ferries car park will be allowed to function till “the proposed Qui-Si-Sana car park is operational.”
But Selvaggi insists that all attendants, with the exception of Qui-Si-Sana’s attendant who remains subject to a complaint by the Malta Tourism Authority, including those at the Strand, have had their licence renewed for the next three months.
After March, parking arrangements will conform to the traffic plans earmarked for the area, Selvaggi says.
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