Valletta parking payment scheme
Start date to be announced 'soon'
The authorities are refusing to say when the payment scheme for parking in Valletta will come into force even though it has already been delayed twice.
A Roads Ministry spokesman said the date for the introduction of the scheme would soon be announced. But he declined to specify when.
A month ago the spokesman had said the scheme - which was originally due to start operating in January but was then put back to March - was due to come into force "in a couple of weeks". Yet Paul Keeling, one of the directors of CVA, the company running the scheme, said the system was ready to go. The company was just waiting for the go-ahead from the Malta Transport Authority.
CVA is currently carrying out extensive tests on the system, which aims to cut down on the 17,000-odd vehicles that enter the capital on a daily basis.
Malta Transport Authority official Konrad Pule said electric cars, motorcycles, public transport vehicles and cars carrying 10 or more people will be exempt from the Valletta payment scheme.
Vehicles will be charged between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays and between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturdays. The rest of the time, including Sundays and public holidays, will be free of charge.
Motorists will not be charged if they enter and leave the capital within 30 minutes. Mr Keeling said cameras had been installed at 11 entry and exit points. Using Automated Number Plate Recognition technology, the system records the number plates of cars entering Valletta and again when they leave.
Tailor-made software developed by local programmers automatically works out the bill for each car.
Motorists, who will pay 35c per hour up to Lm2.80 a day, will be able to check their bill online or by calling the call centre set up at the CVA offices in Pinto Wharf. Payments can also be made online, over the phone, by text message or at the CVA offices.
Mr Keeling explained that bills will be sent on a monthly basis - although those under Lm5 will be sent every three months - and motorists will be given 30 days to settle.
Mr Keeling said 12 months of planning went into setting up the system. Although he would not divulge the extent of CVA's investment, he described it as "large".