An application to turn the gardens at Qui-si-Sana, in Sliema, into an underground car park and business establishments has been met with opposition from residents.

The residents, who are now collecting signatures to protest against the development, feel that no commercial outlets should be allowed which result in the elimination of an open space where residents and visitors can spend some quality leisure time. There are well over 1,000 residents in Qui-si-Sana.

"The elimination of more open space in Qui-si-Sana would lead to social frustration when one takes into account the number of tall concrete buildings that are obliterating the character of Sliema.

"The car park would help alleviate the acute parking problem in Sliema but this should not be done by sacrificing the few open spaces here," a Qui-si-Sana resident told The Times.

The residents are claiming that the car park developers, C & F Building Contractors, were bound by the Qui-si-Sana development brief published by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to hold two public meetings with the residents to explain their proposals and to draw up a residential parking zone.

The residents are further claiming that apart from making use of public land, the developers would also be given a substantial sum from the commuted payment parking scheme.

The residents' argument is that incorporating commercial outlets in the parking scheme would practically mean a change of use. The funds are collected by Mepa from building contractors who do not incorporate parking spaces or garages for users of such properties.

However, a spokesman for the developers said that, so far, the issue of funds from the scheme has not been discussed with Mepa.

Mepa spokesman Sylvana Debono said such funds were specifically tied to car parking schemes.

She said that the public meetings will "definitely" be held prior to the adjudication by Mepa of the application for a development permit.

The developers' spokesman explained that the application to Mepa was filed after a public call for tenders issued by the government for the development of the public land in Qui-si-Sana was won.

The same developers also won a contract to develop part of the Sliema promenade facing the Preluna Hotel into an underground car park as well as the part known as the Chalet.

"The developers will abide strictly by the brief and the public meetings will be held before Mepa gets round to deciding on the outcome of the application for the development.

"The residential parking zone will be decided in due course. At the moment arrangements are being made to carry out a traffic impact statement as well as surveys on traffic arrangements," the spokesman added.

Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo said when contacted that he stood by what he had declared when he was mayor of Sliema in the sense that if the development application for the car park went through it should do so with complete regard to the concerns of the residents of Qui-si-Sana.

"The gardens should be retained if not enhanced and the commercial outlets should only be at underground level and having the least impact on the area.

"The most important thing is that during the past years, the players and the situation in the area have changed completely in particular with the development of Tigné Point which will incorporate parking facilities in the area.

"This new scenario calls for the whole business of car parks to be seen holistically and not in piecemeal fashion as things now seem to stand," Mr Arrigo argued.

The issue of residents' parking zones should also be studied closely to see how best it could work in practice without turning streets into no-go zones for non-residents, he added.

When contacted by The Times, Sliema mayor Albert Bonello Dupuis said that Qui-si-Sana residents had not written to the council about the matter. Had the residents officially asked the council to look into the matter it would discuss it at one of its regular monthly meetings and vote on it, Mr Bonello Dupuis said.

He said the council had appointed a group of architects to carry out a study into the introduction of a residential parking zone of 10 streets in Qui-si-Sana. The report on this scheme was on the agenda of the council's monthly meeting on Wednesday.