Dissimilar problems exist in different areas of Sliema. That in eastern Sliema (Tigné/Qui-si-sana, Ferries, Tower Road and lower High Street) is visitor-related, existing only during shopping hours.
Parking here is plentiful, with hundreds of places available along the coast road and in the High Street Car Park. These are deserted during off-peak hours.
The problem exists because, while on-street parking is free, parking in the High Street Car Park is not. Shoppers burn litres of petrol cruising the area, rather than submitting to payment. The car park is rarely full and has had to incorporate a supermarket to survive.
In contrast, the parking problem in central and western Sliema is due to high car ownership and lack of on or off-street parking. Competition for parking spaces is between the residents themselves, 24 hours a day.
The government intends to build a 750-space car park and entertainment complex underneath the Qui-si-sana garden. The reasons have been given as:
The introduction of a Residents Parking Zone (RPZ) for central and eastern Sliema;
The removal of virtually all surface parking from the coast road at the Ferries, Tigné seafront and Qui-si-sana;
Pedestrianisation of Bisazza Street and Tower Road is also planned;
The increase in parking requirements due to the developments at Tigné Point, the Union Club site and now at Fort Cambridge.
This is town planning gone haywire. The Qui-si-sana car park is at sea level and to expect central Sliema residents to regularly negotiate the hill is unreasonable.
The removal of parking from the Ferries/Tignè seafront coupled with pedestrianisation of Tower Road and Bisazza Street will downgrade the value of the shops, relegating these to back-street premises.
The Tigné Point and Union Club developments will provide approximately 2,000 new public parking places. Competition with the establishments in Tower Road/Bisazza Street/Ferries will relieve parking pressure there. Limitation of free visitor parking will force utilisation of the High Street car park.
The Qui-si-sana car park will aggravate congestion. Traffic along the Qui-si-sana/Tigné seafront road will explode as:
The RPZ will redirect all visitors to Sliema towards Qui-si-sana;
Only one car per household is allowed in the RPZ, all others will have to park in Qui-si-sana;
Closure of Tower Road/ Bisazza Street will redirect all traffic towards Tigné/Qui-si-sana;
New residents and visitors will add further traffic;
The projected peak traffic flow along the Qui-si-sana/Tigné seafront road is 3,000-4,000 cars per hour;
The entrance to the Qui-si-sana car park will be a major traffic obstruction, taking over an hour to accommodate 400 cars. This will create massive tailbacks along the single carriageway road at peak times. Traffic stalled at Ghar id-Dud will take the alternative exit via High and Rudolphe Streets. Traffic will attempt to cross Tigné Peninsula via Locker, Tigné and St Anthony Streets, causing further jams and gridlocks.
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority's Preliminary Traffic Report raises these concerns, however they do not seem to have been addressed.
The solution to Sliema's parking problems is not a massive concentration of car parks on the Tigné peninsula. A multiple approach is required.
Improved use of regional public transport is ideal but unlikely in the foreseeable future.
Circular park and ride schemes similar to those proposed for Valletta and Floriana should be considered, aimed at commuters.
Utilising the footprint of the Kappara-Manoel Island flyover at Gzira will provide hundreds of spaces. Once the Gzira-Sliema road is converted to a single carriageway, the redundant lane could be used for unhindered travel.
Other areas to be considered would be San Gwann, as this would reduce traffic along Mrabat and Rudolphe Streets and possibly the St Julians/Pembroke area.
Mepa's Preliminary Traffic Report laments that the excess parking created by the Qui-si-sana car park will frustrate any attempts to introduce local public transport schemes as these.
The present parking problem in central and western Sliema can be relieved by providing small, strategically placed car parks around the town, for residents' use, using CPPS funds for Sliema's direct benefit.
Possible locations are the Salesians' ground - already a car park. Another park has been proposed underneath Independence Gardens. Derelict Villa Bonici is a potential site and perhaps the developers of the St Joseph School site could be persuaded to render a public service.
The long-term strategy for Sliema should be for a reduction of on and off-street parking spaces. Mepa's imposition of fines for providing insufficient parking spaces supplies good revenue however this policy simply worsens traffic. European cities with similar traffic and parking problems impose a fine on excess parking spaces as a traffic deterrent.
The construction of the Qui-si-sana car park together with pedestrianisation of Tower Road and Bisazza Street is not the magic answer to Sliema's parking problems. Rather, it is a planning blunder and a potential environmental disaster. It is still not too late to reconsider, to formulate a plan which has the quality of life of Sliema's inhabitants as its priority.