[WATCH] Minister stands his ground on Central Link Project, insists it will benefit environment

Minister stands his ground on Central Link Project

Transport Minister Ian Borg has stood his ground on the controversial Central Link Project, the day after a thousand people descended onto the streets to protest against its approval.

The project has struck a nerve with many, who feel that the environment is being disregarded in favour of economic considerations.

The project aims to upgrade the road linking the roundabout at the bottom of Saqqajja hill and the Mrieħel bypass, with Infrastructure Malta, the roads agency overseeing the work, insisting it would half travelling times for commuters.

Answering journalists’ questions following a press conference this morning, Borg recalled how the need for an Attard bypass was already apparent in the 1990s, and had then been included in the 2006 local plans, which are still valid today.

“This project needed to, and still needs to, be implemented,” Borg said.

He said he respected people who genuinely cared about the environment and who took time to protest against the project.

"It is also clear to me that we must continue to explain the benefits of the project... This is a pro-environment project," he added.

He said the government would be seeing to it that mature trees are planted in order to make up for the ones that will be uprooted, adding that the contractor would be obliged to water these trees for a five-year period.

Borg said that over the years, some trees that lined the present road had died or were damaged by the weather, but had never been replaced.

The project, when completed, would also see fewer emissions, especially within village cores.

“The fact that today you have a situation where 30,000 cars that pass through Balzan, Lija and Attard itself, through their narrow roads, in order to escape the bottleneck of this locality without having the infrastructure that has been planned since at least the 1990s, means that you definitely have more pollution,” Borg said.

The minister added that while it was true that those who opposed the project needed to be heard, it was also true that there were many who wanted the project completed and who have been expecting it for years.  

Asked whether the government was willing to consider alternatives, Borg said there could be no discussion on the project’s necessity.

He dismissed suggestions that the problem of congestion could be solved using a mass transport system, insisting that people needed solutions that could be implemented now, rather than in 25 years' time.

To this end, he said, government was investing in alternative modes of transport, including transport by sea, which had to be extended to other parts of the island.

He said more investment would also be made in the country’s bus system that had reached saturation point and was not able to carry more people.

He noted how for the past two years, some 30,000 youths were eligible to use public transport for free, while also pointing to a number of incentives for people wishing to purchase motorcycles as opposed to cars.

“I think that we all wish that we had been born in a country where those who came before us had invested in a mass transport system. Where you can walk to the village square, get on a metro and stop in Valletta. But nobody planned for this,” he said.

“We are studying it, but I can’t come and present a proposal just because someone draws a diagram and says that it is doable.”