Attard: A traffic conduit

Most of Attard lies between Triq Iz-Zaghfran, which is the road we all drive through on the way to Rabat, and St Catherine's Street, which takes those coming from Mosta past the church of Our Lady of Miracles and either on to Lija or to Attard.

If the heavy traffic that goes through Attard were confined to its peripheries, the situation would not be too bad. But in between these two roads lie Triq il-Ghenba, Triq il-Linja, Triq il-Mosta (which used to be the village's main road) and Imdina Road that takes the traffic coming down from Rabat. These roads are all parallel and adjacent to each other. Additionally, during the morning rush hour, because Mosta Road is closed due to the presence of the local primary school, all but the Rabat traffic is channelled to the narrowest part of Triq il-Linja, next to the American Ambassador's Residence. This very narrow road has to take cars, lorries, buses and other heavy traffic when two cars can hardly pass each other.

It should be obvious to all that, due to the traffic streaming through every pore of the village, Attard has been destroyed as a community and has instead been split up into little residential or commercial pockets. The peaceful village we came to inhabit years ago is no more. No wonder that those who can are packing up and leaving.

Astonishingly not a voice seems to have been raised in protest and Attard does not lack strong voices. Neither councillors nor members of Parliament (and Attard is strongly represented in both the government and the PN, while the 30 per cent Labour vote is not to be dismissed) to my knowledge have bothered to remedy a situation that has transformed Attard into a traffic conduit. With the fairs soon to be held at Ta' Qali, the situation is bound to deteriorate.

I urge the Attard community to look at what is happening around it before it is too late and to tell councillors and MPs, when they will soon come to solicit our vote, that this is not a hostage to tribal loyalty but has to be earned. You only have one chance every five years and a more insignificant one every three.