Sliema residents deserve better treatment (2)

It seems as though the outgoing mayor of Sliema is not fully aware of the proposed government and Malta Environment and Planning Authority documents regarding Sliema. His arguments are pure conjecture.

The Nationalist council candidates are contesting "fact"-based arguments with hollow assurances. They are going door to door saying that the dreaded projects are not going to take place while in reality the projects are progressing as scheduled.

We have been on this road before. Prior to the last council election the ex-mayor (now an MP) was reported in a newspaper stating that he is giving the residents his "unstinting support" (The Malta Independent, January 12, 2003) and that the Qui-Si-Sana project was not needed. Right after the election he seemed to have forgotten the Sliema residents and his stand against the project.

Unless all the development briefs and the North Harbour Local Plan are immediately withdrawn for fresh consultation with the public, these deceptive assurances will have no credibility whatsoever.

The outgoing mayor stated that the reduction of parking at the ferries has nothing to do with the provision of parking at Qui-Si-Sana. This could not be further from the truth.

The residential parking zones (RPZ), the Qui-Si-Sana car park, the Chalet development, the Fort Cambridge heritage site and the removal of hundreds of on-street parking spaces at the Strand are all connected in one master plan. The plan is called the North Harbours Local Plan.

The North Harbours Local Plan (page 189), states that "if the residential parking zone is not operating before the Qui-Si-Sana car park is constructed the car park will not be feasible". Therefore Mepa is making it clear that the residents' parking zones are making the new private car park feasible.

Although the mayor stated that the huge reduction in car parking at the strand has nothing to do with the new parking lot at Qui-Si-Sana, Mepa is stating the opposite.

The North Harbours Local Plan (NHSJO3i) states that "the need for off-street parking to serve Sliema retail centre is expected to increase considerably" and this is because of the huge reduction in car parking spaces at the Ferries area and the restrictions of the residential parking.

The document also specifies that the "Qui-Si-Sana site is situated near the northern boundary of the perimeter of the proposed town centre". The new proposed town centre is appropriately called "Town Square".

It is crystal clear that parking is being taken away from the ferries area to be reinstated near the new MIDI development and "Town Square". A newspaper quoted a minister saying that the "Qui-Si-Sana car park was necessary to ensure the MIDI project has sufficient parking spaces" (November20, 2005).

Mayor Albert Bonello Dupuis should read the Qui-Si-Sana development brief and realise that the Cabinet has signed off a Mepa development brief giving a private contractor the right to set up and administer the residents' parking zones in Sliema (QSS 6.2.1) and also the facility of charging the Sliema residents an annual fee per car to park in their own street (QSS 6.3.3). This is fact documented in a legally binding contract between the government and C&F Contractors. By stating that the council is setting up the residential parking zones the mayor is confirming that the expensive studies for ADT are being done twice, first by the council and then by the contractor. This does not mean that the signed official contract between the government and contractor is null and void, it just proves stark lack of coordination and that the taxpayer is going to be paying twice for the same studies. Who is the mayor trying to fool?

The previous mayor seems to have forgotten the plight of the residents after being elected an MP, while this mayor seems to be going one step further by twisting the documented policies.

On March 11, Sliema residents are not going to be fooled again. They are going to send a clear message for change. The people of Sliema will elect councillors who supported them consistently and not just in the final weeks before a council election.