Development plans for Floriana

Paragraph five of the harbour development plan mentions that connections from and to Floriana both from Marsamxett and Grand Harbour are difficult. I suggest that two lifts, one near the Customs House and another near the sea passenger terminal in Pinto Wharf, to Floriana should complement the ferry landing stages as follows:

a. Customs House quay, Valletta/Floriana; b. Malta Maritime Authority offices, Floriana; c. Pinto passenger terminal, Floriana; d. Marsamxett, Valletta and e. Excelsior Hotel, Floriana.

When no lifts are available, the ferry stage should be coupled with a minibus service. The (e) terminal is a sine qua non as several thousands of office workers have their offices just up the hill in Floriana. This would lessen motor car traffic congestion on the roads and also help also to attract tourists to use the ferries which must be punctual and fast with reasonable, cheap fares for workers during the rush hours.

Ferries must be modern ones that can be operated by a crew consisting of two or even one in order to reduce expenses rather than old cumbersome ferries that are uneconomic to run.

To encourage people to use the ferries and the buses. We should emulate Singapore where owner-driver-only cars are not allowed in the city centre during the rush hours. With this system employees use their car on alternative weeks and take a lift on the other.

Big trucks and vans should be prohibited from parking in Valletta and Floriana for more than one hour. "V discs" tariffs should be, say, on a three-tier hour time system, depending on the duration of on-time parking. Heavy trucks and containers should not be allowed in Floriana except in early morning.

As the new bus terminus will take years to be operational and as one who walks through this area four times a day, in order to remove the existing organised confusion, I suggest that buses should forthwith disembark passengers near the Phoenicia Hotel area and embark outgoing ones near St James Ditch.

Buses should be made to park at right angles so that three buses can use the space currently occupied by one. The rest will park in St James Ditch where the former lottery kiosk room, now abandoned, could be utilised as a rest room for drivers and to where the water tap for washing can be transferred in order not to have buses and taxis being washed with soap and water in the area from where cruise liner passengers start their Valletta walking tour.

I fully agree with paragraph 8.3. In fact, near the Ministry of Works, there are many one-storey ramshackle buildings and Nissen huts which could be much better utilised. These should be pulled down and two multi-storey buildings with lifts be constructed instead, one of which should be for residential purposes. This, in addition to providing much needed residences, would lessen the traffic commuting car people coming to Floriana and Valletta for their daily work. In fact, some foreign experts, including Bernard Fielden, of Unesco, insisted that the population decline in Valletta and Floriana, down from 30,000 to 10,000, should not only be halted but a back-to-town movement should start in earnest.

Prof. Gomez, of the Department of Architecture of the Lisbon University, stated that a sure way of killing a historic town is to curtail a good mix of population and offices. So we wholeheartedly agree that if a block is pulled down for offices, building speculators should be forced to allot half of the area for residential purposes.

The Lorenzo Manchè area, which houses a small trade school and a garage for Enemalta, could easily be developed into a housing estate as water, electricity and drainage services already exist.

As already recommended for Valletta, residents only parking in certain streets in Floriana, as suggested in the harbour development plan, is a must as more than 5,000 workers, whose offices are in Floriana, occupy all slots available, when a big car park is not fully used even when thousands of people visit the Monti hawkers with their private cars.

Fiscal tax assistance and money grants are needed to upgrade buildings in poor conditions and/or demolish unoccupied two-storey buildings and replace them by six-storey ones with lifts, as the population of Floriana has hundreds of pensioners.

In order to enliven Floriana in the evenings, an area below the Argotti Gardens, which has nursery plants, could be transferred elsewhere and the place used as an open-air theatre. The same may be said for the King George V playing field and Herbert Ganado Gardens where the Manoel Theatre orchestra and the Armed Forces of Malta band could give evening concerts in summer. Pinto Wharf, near Crucifix Hill, could also be utilised for concerts.

The Xaghra complex, while definitely remaining a sports open-centre, must be revitalised and properly planned and adjusted to cater for all kinds of sports, with parking with green areas predominating.

I and all the people of Floriana fully applaud paragraph GF15 which lays down that development permits for new private and public offices will not be granted in the structure plan period as this will aggravate both the traffic congestion and lessen the already diminishing residential units.