Mosta market pits hawkers against property owners

Open markets may be part of community life and even a tourist attraction, but the one in Mosta, which opens for business every Monday morning in 16th September Square, is causing tension between hawkers and property owners in the area.

The main complaint is that stalls are blocking access into the square, one of them standing right on the newly laid pavement, very close to the façade of a building. At least one property owner seems to have managed to keep stallholders away as the space in front of this outlet usually appears to be vacant.

The situation makes one wonder who is ultimately responsible to ensure that access to public places is not blocked.

"The authorities that are supposed to organise these open markets are simply not doing their job properly", said Alex Montanaro, managing director of the Cornerstone Complex, who is directly affected by the access problem. "We have constructed an underground garage in this development to accommodate a large number of cars. This was done at the request of Mepa and the Mosta local council.

"But the present situation is such that there is no access on Monday mornings because the authorities concerned failed to re-organise the open market, despite the insistence that a car park be provided. The situation is absolutely ridiculous," he said.

Mr Montanaro has submitted a proposal to provide access for emergency vehicles to the underground Enemalta substation and to cars wanting to reach the Cornerstone Complex garage during the open market on Monday mornings.

Mepa's Planning Directorate has recommended the proposal for approval and the Civil Protection Department and the police have all written saying they have no objection to the proposal. The Mosta council and the Malta Transport Authority have said they do not object as long as the hawkers agree.

Yet, the access problem remains unsolved, even if not everybody acknowledges it is a problem.

"An access problem does not exist," the Parliament Secretary at the Ministry of Communication and Competitiveness, Edwin Vassallo, who is responsible for street markets, told The Times. And he is "sure that should an emergency arise, the stall holders will immediately dismantle their stalls".

"Besides, we have the same access problems at feasts. The market has existed for 30 years and the developer knew about the street market before he decided to build his complex. We have lived with this issue for a long time; we only have a problem with the Cornerstone Complex.

"Street markets all over the world have limited access, and, after all, we are only talking about four hours a week", Mr Vassallo said.

When it was pointed out to him that some stalls were crowding pavements leaving hardly any access for pedestrians, Mr Vassallo said regulations do exist which ban such behaviour.

Mosta mayor Joseph P. De Martino said the council has had complaints from residents in the square, and not just from the Cornerstone Complex, although Mr Montanaro is the most persistent, adding that he had warned Mr Montanaro of the problems within the square before the businessman started his development.

He acknowledged that the stallholders are not easy people to persuade to reach a compromise, because they have been there for a long time, and are worried that with any future development their market space will be reduced.

And the Monday morning market problem is not the only one in the square. Tourist coaches are causing inconvenience too. The large vehicles are at times parked haphazardly in 16th September Square blocking access to the complex car park, and occupying most of the parking space.

Mr Montanaro has made several requests to the Mosta local council to find a solution to the matter but said that, so far, nothing has been resolved. He insists that the council must assume full responsibility for failing to properly organise appropriate parking bays for tourist coaches.

"The Mosta local council appears to be doing little or nothing regarding this issue which occurs practically three or four times a week or even more; both in the mornings and afternoons", Mr Montanaro said.

"The whole situation also raises health and safety issues, which are extremely important. Fire engines and ambulances must be able to go through, especially given the large Enemalta substation in the new complex. Besides, the Cornerstone Complex will be accommodating a shopping centre with various retail outlets and, at the end of the month, a foreign company with many employees will be arriving.

"Can you imagine just having a fire drill in this kind of scenario, let alone a real emergency", Mr Montanaro wondered.

Enemalta said it has no problem with access. Mr De Martino said: "The council is well aware of the tourist coaches problem, as is the ADT. The coaches cause disorder by blocking access and by taking up too many parking spaces and they keep their engines running (to keep the AC on) while parked, causing air pollution.

"The council has identified a site and is trying to solve the problem, but this is proving to be a long process," he said.

What is interesting is that when the council took over responsibility from the central government, it was warned that confusion reigns supreme in the square and that the problem was very difficult to solve.