Zabbar-Tarxien link road to complement SmartCity road

A road to link Zabbar with Tal-Barrani road in Tarxien is set to complement the proposed 643-metre dual carriage way road between SmartCity and Bieb is-Sultan in Zabbar, which passes right through the pristine Tal-Fata agricultural area.

In the absence of a road linking Zabbar to Tal-Barrani, the new SmartCity road is expected to increase traffic levels in Fgura, but the environmental impact of the latest addition to the road network is still to be assessed.

While the original proposal made in a Traffic Impact Study proposed a new link road passing through agricultural land the latest proposal is to upgrade the existing San Anard road and create two junctions one near Hompesch Arch and another at Tal-Barrani.

This announcement of the impending application for the new road was made by the Prime Minister in reply to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Owen Bonnici.

In his PQ, Bonnici referred to a social impact study by sociologist Mario Vassallo which warned that the proposed linking Zabbar and Kalkara will be a "total disaster" for the residents of Fgura if the link road is not extended up to tal-Barrani.

This is because the estimated 23,000 daily car trips solely generated by the SmartCity project will have to pass directly from an already polluted and congested Fgura.

The EIA coordinator has called on the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to commit itself to approve the link between Tarxien and Zabbar before approving the road linking Zabbar and Kalkara.

But in a report issued in November, MEPA's Environmental Protection Directorate has already made it clear that it would not accept any such commitment in the absence of studies on the environmental impact of the Tal-Barrani to Zabbar link.

The EPD laments that presently there is no indication of the impacts that the road development linking Zabbar to Tal-Barrani, will have on the site and its surroundings.

"It should be stressed that this is not covered by the current EIA; however the EIA coordinator is suggesting commitments that in themselves would be premature in the absence of a major EIA update or a separate EIA for the development as a whole."

The ad hoc development of the Zabbar to Kalkara segment may end up making these other modifications to the network, which have not yet been subjected to the required assessment processes inevitable.

The master plan

A master plan published by Transport Malta already shows how SmartCity will eventually link with the Tal-Barrani Area to alleviate traffic problems in Fgura but the report states that the larger project will only be finalised by 2020.

In his reply, the Prime Minister revealed that it is the government's intention to develop the whole stretch of road proposed in the master plan while announcing that Transport Malta is already in the process of submitting an application for the second phase of the project which links Tarxien and Zabbar.

But the Prime Minister confirmed that environmental studies have only covered the stretch of road between Zabbar and Smart City and new studies have to be conducted on the new stretch of road between Zabbar and Tal-Barrani.

It is this piecemeal approach to road development - which has been criticised by the Environment Protection Directorate - that insists that it cannot recommend the link between Zabbar and SmartCity without knowing the full impact of the entire project. 

The master plan refers to plans for a road linking Hompesch Gate in Fgura up to and including the present junction in Triq San Leonardo in Tal-Barrani. Originally, a Traffic Impact Study had proposed that the link road is routed in the east side of the Industrial Estate. But Transport Malta has abandoned this idea because this would have resulted in a major disruption in agricultural holding in the area. 

Instead, the latest proposal is to upgrade the existing Triq San Anard. This will still require the creation of two junctions, one at the cross roads with Hompesh Arch and another at Tal-Barrani.

When announced, the SmartCity project was presented as one having only positive environmental impacts but the project has already resulted in the relocation of the sewage treatment plant to San Anard and to the proposed development of a road network which is expected to have a major impact on agricultural holdings. MEPA had refused to conduct a Strategic Environment Impact Assessment - which would have assessed the wider environmental impact of the project - when it revised the Grand Harbour local plan in 2006 to accommodate the new project.