Have something to say about transport? Master plan launched for consultation

A national transport strategy and a draft 10-year national transport master plan have been launched for public consultation by Transport Minister Joe Mizzi.

This is the first time that a national, comprehensive and action-oriented transport master plan has been presented for public consultation.

According to Transport Malta, the plan will guide policy makers to drop the customary short-term only approach to solving transport issues, and start taking decisions in a coherent manner fitting within a wider strategic framework with studied outcomes.

The Transport Strategy has a time horizon up to 2050 with its established vision to “provide a sustainable transport system which is efficient, inclusive, safe, integrated and reliable for people and freight, and which supports urban, rural and coastal environments and communities where people want to live and work: now and in the future”.  

It identifies a set of strategic goals and guiding principles through which decision-making can be filtered with a view to creating a sustainable mix of measures that can achieve a calculated desired outcome. It also establishes specific targets in key objectives that can be measured and met.

The Transport Master Plan 2025 identifies a set of concrete measures to be implemented over the short, medium and longer term spanning all modes of transport – land, air, maritime and intermodal.

The measures are also studied through a national transport model, purposely built to gauge and predict outcomes under different future transport scenarios compared with a ‘Do-Nothing’ scenario.

The Transport Master Plan 2025 identifies and addresses major transportation issues like traffic congestion, air quality, safety and public transport punctuality. It puts forward measures to remove traffic bottlenecks on the strategic road network, at the sea ports and the airport; includes policies and measures to incentivise sustainable and greener transport to make our towns and cities more liveable, and identifies the technological solutions needed to manage and optimise the efficiency of our existing transport infrastructures.

The Transport Plan also identifies a vast array of projects that need to be implemented, foremost amongst which are 29 major road interventions, infrastructure to promote cycling and other healthy commuting patterns, investment in port facilities and longer term project studies like the Malta-Gozo permanent link and a mass rapid transport system. The plan also identifies a series of necessary studies that need to be undertaken, particularly in the preparation for a longer term measures and projects.

The draft Transport Master Plan and National Transport Strategy may be accessed from the Transport Malta website.

Feedback will be received through the email address [email protected] or may alternatively be sent by post to National Transport Strategy & Master Plan Public Consultation, Transport Malta, Integrated Transport Strategy Directorate, Sa Maison Road, Floriana, FRN 1612.

During the consultation period, information meetings will be held with key stakeholders to elaborate and discuss the more technical aspects of the Strategy and Master Plan.  

“Every member of society is highly encouraged to contribute to this important exercise which will determine the future transport trends of the Maltese Islands,” Transport Malta said. “All feedback is to reach Transport Malta through the channels outlined above by not later than Friday 22nd July 2016.”