Most signatories reside outside Sliema

The majority of signatories to a petition on the Qui-Si-Sana project, presented to the Prime Minister on January 26, reside outside the area; in fact only 45 per cent are Sliema residents, sources said.

The petition, together with a letter, had been delivered to the Office of the Prime Minister by residents of Qui-Si-Sana and Tignè. A spokesman for the residents had said they had decided to go to Castille, in Valletta, personally because they had only got acknowledgements to three letters they had sent over the past year.

In the petition, which will also be presented to the European Parliament by the European Greens, the signatories stressed their opposition to the construction of a car park and a commercial complex at Qui-Si-Sana.

The sources said 357 of the 700 signatories were residents of Sliema. Most of the others lived in Zejtun, Zabbar and Tarxien.

In their letter to the Prime Minister, the signatories said a decision on the construction of a car park should be postponed until the Residents Parking Zone was up and running and the new developments, Midi and Town Square, were open to the public.

They said that fresh data could then be compiled and, if necessary, a new traffic and parking scheme devised, taking into account the wishes of both the residential and the commercial community.

A spokesman for the Qui-Si-Sana Residents' Association said yesterday it was true there were many signatories who were not from Sliema. This was intentional because the Qui-Si-Sana Gardens did not only belong to residents of Sliema or Qui-Si-Sana but to the whole of Malta, he explained.

In fact, the spokesman added, the gardens were visited and enjoyed by many residents who were not local. Because of this, signatures for the petition were collected from all over the island.