Metro causes friction in Cabinet

Clyde Caruana was being his usual frank self when he warned in an interview that the country would be “royally screwed” investing in a metro. 

But the finance minister’s blunt remarks did not go down too well with Transport Minister Chris Bonett, who is tasked with the re-evaluation of previous plans for a metro. 

The finance minister made his comments last Tuesday when asked about proposals for a mass transportation system. But Bonett raised the matter during Cabinet later that day, according to several government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to speak openly about internal matters. 

“Chris Bonett rebuked the finance minister and expressed displeasure at what he believed was a lack of collegiality shown by Clyde Caruana,” the sources said. “Chris Bonett simply did not like what Clyde Caruana had said.” 

Caruana did not respond to Bonett’s remarks, with sources suggesting that he “anticipated some form of reaction”. 

Earlier, Caruana did not mince his words when interviewed by Times of Malta Editor-in-chief Herman Grech. Caruana made it clear that his criticism concerned both his own government’s proposal and the PN’s idea for a trackless tram. He questioned whether enough people would give up their cars to make either of the projects viable. 

“I am duty-bound to speak my mind about this because I don’t want this country to go into something and then realise that we’re making a mistake. If we get it wrong, we’re royally screwed,” Caruana had said. 

Caruana’s comments contrasted with statements made by Prime Minister Robert Abela a few weeks earlier when he resurrected the idea of a metro following Opposition leader Alex Borg’s call for cross-party consensus on a mass transport system. 

An extensive proposal costing more than €6 billion for an underground metro network across Malta was put forward by the government in 2021. The proposal was based on studies carried out by Arup, an international engineering company. 

READ ALSO | Clyde Caruana questions metro’s viability after Abela resurrects idea in Sunday interview

Despite being showcased in a glitzy way on the eve of the 2022 election, the proposal was quietly shelved in subsequent years, being deemed too expensive. 

However, commenting on the morrow of Caruana’s biting interview and the friction it caused in Cabinet, Robert Abela said fresh plans for a mass transport system would now cost €2.8 billion instead. 

The new system, he explained, would run both underground and overground thus cutting the original costs by more than half. The new plans being prepared by Bonett’s ministry have not yet been unveiled. 

The government sources said the finance minister was not aware of the new plans when making his remarks. However, they suggested it is unlikely Caruana would have changed his mind since the PN proposal for a trackless tram, which he also criticised, was valued at €2.8 billion when originally unveiled in 2022. 

Similar concerns to those exressed by the finance minister are being echoed today by economist JP Fabri in his regular weekly column in MaltaToday (see page 15). Fabri says the huge investment required for a metro would have to be accompanied by measures that encourage people to leave their car at home and use the underground. 

Such measures, he suggests, should include public road parking fees that reflect true land values, congestion charges for high-traffic zones, and a steep increase in registration and licences.