Calls for better public transport

Public transport was seeing increased public patronage because of the increase in the cost of fuel and the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) should exploit the situation and see to it that services are improved.

Speaking in Parliament during the debate on the ADT estimates, Labour spokesman on transport Charles Buhagiar said villages in Malta had expanded and the outer areas should also be served by public transport.

He said he agreed with Transport Minister Austin Gatt's assessment of the situation at the ADT and hoped a solution would be found for all the identified problems. He said that the authority needed to be reorganised.

Mr Buhagiar agreed with the minister that the authority lacked expertise. The situation was worse in 1996 when none of the architects were focused on road building. A university course was organised to train people in road building and design science and, as a result, there was now a nucleus of architects who could design and build roads.

Road building experts were brought from Germany and part of their duties was to teach Maltese students. They also had to supervise and design roads and prepare a plan for their upgrade. British architects were now commissioned to help the department in its work.

Mr Buhagiar stressed the need for the network infrastructure directorate to be strengthened. He said that there were several cases in the past of reports of cost overruns and delays. Several recommendations were made by the auditor but although an improvement had been registered, it was still not enough.

He said the Manwel Dimech Bridge had to be completed after a year but it was not yet ready after 24 months. The St Paul's Bay bypass was not completed although the ADT had given June 16 as its completion date.

Lack of good planning and preparation had resulted in cost overruns in practically every road mentioned. He said that Dr Gatt's predecessor had, in 2006, published a list of 437 residential roads and said that they were to be done up by 2008. But less than 200 were ready. Would Dr Gatt keep his predecessor's promise?

Mr Buhagiar said he agreed with Dr Gatt that road testing should no longer be done by the contractor but by independent testing houses. This should apply not just for arterial roads, where the central government was responsible, but also for secondary roads which were the responsibility of the local councils.

Mr Buhagiar said that, as far as he knew, roads for which structural and cohesion funds were being used had to be concluded by the end of next year but work had not yet started. Was the programme in the ADT's report to be adhered to or were priorities to be changed?

Things had to be done seriously and quality had to be ensured. All money spent on road works should be accounted for. Horse drawn cabs should be better regulated. One could not, in this day and age, allow them to use arterial roads.

He pointed out that roads were being narrowed to one lane on each direction and there was no space for bus lanes. These things did not make sense and showed lack of cooperation between the ADT's different directorates.

Alternative public transport was also needed for one could not continue to depend just on buses. Public transport by sea, especially in the port area, should be considered.

Mr Buhagiar said the CVA system introduced in Valletta had worked well for the first few months. But people were now used to it and parking was still done all over the city. It had been sold as a system to improve the environment in Valletta. But it actually worsened they city's environment because spaces that used to be used by one car could currently be used by three to four increasing the number of cars using the city.

He praised the pedestrianisation process and said that Strait Street and St Lucia Street could easily be pedestrianised.

The Park and Ride was good as a stand-alone project but the government had now ended up subsidising the CVA contractor and the Park and Ride. Since there was a shortfall, was the park and ride to remain free?

Mr Buhagiar said that the estimates noted that revenue was to increase by Lm125,000 mainly due to the introduction of new fees, reserved parking, trenching permits and parking management. Did this mean new taxes? The minister should explain.

The estimates also noted that the CVA contract fee of Lm400,000 was to be financed out of speed camera revenues. Did this mean that this much was to be made out of speed camera fines?

Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo said the ADT's commitment towards road maintenance had improved but now it was important that these standards were kept. Apart from managers, projects also needed people who had a sense of "ownership". Without this, chances were a project would collapse.

He went on to speak of a number of issues which still required urgent attention. Road signs had to be kept in shape, at least in the main roads. It was also important to have a sense of continuity between one road sign and another. The standards of pavements, and street lighting also left much to be desired.

He said that more laison between ADT personnel was needed.

Labour MP Stefan Buontempo said it shameful that a number of fatalities had to be recorded in the same spot before the ADT took action. The recent fatality at Ċirkewwa had been the sixth in that spot. But now action needed to be taken promptly and not wait for another year.

Since many accidents were a result of the condition of the roads, the EU had introduced a comprehensive plan for road safety, which was based on four procedures: a road safety impact assessment, a road safety audit, network safety management and safety inspections.

Everyone was entitled to safe roads and one had to see how to provide this safety. When a survey was carried out on the reasons for road accidents, speeding was found to be the culprit in 53 percent of the cases. Other reasons included driving under the influence of drink. Many of these accidents could have been avoided.

Initiatives by the European Commission included stricter regulation of driving licenses and increased vigilance on people's driving habits. Negligence, on the part of the driver, as well as on that of the authorities, led to accidents.

It was useless to try and make people aware only at times like Christmas. This education exercise was not just the ADT's responsibility. He suggested that public transport to places of entertainment be subsidised at certain times and this expense be shared between the ADT and the clubs in the area.

Nationalist MP Philip Mifsud said that people immediately associated the ADT with roads and their maintenance.

A programme had been launched by the government to build some 500 roads of which 200 were ready. He looked forward to see the remainder finished in the shortest possible time at the highest possible quality. Mr Mifsud said EU funds should be used for better traffic management. Malta had more than 550 registered vehicles for every 1,000 persons.

A road maintenance programme was needed. Roads should be completed to the full, with line markings and street furniture. The roads done with funds from the Italian protocol still lacked bus shelters which had been removed before the work started. Certain sections of these roads were also not always lit.

Labour MP Anthony Agius Decelis said that 40 million bus tickets were bought last year in 4,700 daily trips. Buses carried two million more people than in the previous year. Drivers and their associations should be better empowered and involved in decisions taken by the authority.

He said driving tests could be improved. There was a lack of human resources at the front office where tests were held. Driving schools should have duty-free cars and VAT should not be charged on driving lessons.

Winding up, Minister Austin Gatt said that where horse drawn carriage shelters were put up, they were not used by owners. Horse drawn carriages, he said, had to be regulated and laws had to be there for everyone. Policies in transport had to be built on respect for one another, especially pedestrians.

On the German road experts, the minister said that he had requested a review of their contract.

The minister agreed with Mr Buhagiar that Malta still had problems estimating works. Not enough was invested in the initial planning phase to ensure that estimates were close to the final cost. No cost accounting was carried out and Malta lacked pre- and post-management, analyses and expert auditing to ensure that projects were finished on time and according to budget.

He pointed out that there were only four project managers in Malta, with only two of them at a University degree level.

The minister said that the ADT had to be changed from one that was more concerned with its internal stake holders to one more concerned with people who used its services.

He said he was committed that by next year, a number of tenders would be issued for sea transport to be expanded.

The concept of water taxis would also be encouraged. There was also the possibility to reintroduce the tram on certain routes. In Gozo, all buses could be replaced with ecologically friendly ones.

These were matters that one should start considering. The government knew it would be stepping on people's toes but action had to be taken. Giving an example, he said that Malta's oldest bus in use was in Gozo. This had been built in 1928 and its owner expected to continue driving it.

The estimates were approved after a division.