European Commission may take action against Sliema, Gzira pollution

What about car pooling with a minimum of 2 people per car? It will definitely reduce the number of cars in that area as many people don't have a passenger with them in the car. Alternatively, incentives for use of motorbikes / bicycles in Sliema, like priorities lanes for those who do use these types of transport, making it easier for them & less risky.

@ Victor aquilina

I can have six cars... but can only drive one at any point in time..

Apart from that what you have proposed is rather authoritarian... to authoritarian in fact... going against all forms of modern democracy.. the EU will lynch the government if it had to do that..

but taking a bit of pointer on this... why does Government always quote the number of cars rather than the actual number of valid driving licences...

Putting it frankly I have never seen a car driving around on its own.... well I have seen Knight Rider on TV but I do not think that will qualify..

Putting it simply and many might not agree.. the places in question attract a lot of people for various reasons, work, shopping and leisure... while nothing can be done about work, since people have to go there...people can avoid the leisure bit if they want... if they still insist then they know what they are going in for.. pollution and all. I myself prefer to avoid it

more ridiculous suggestions from Martinelli!!! widening roads for more traffic!?? oh my god!... some poeple are soooooooo conservative!

Ghandu ragun igerger il-poplu. Dawn id-dhahen u tniggis tal-arja kawzat mill-eluf ta karozzi fit-toroq maltin, kollu tort tal-gvern li ghandna talli ghamilha possibli biex il-maltin jixtruhom, u tal-krizi finanzjarja li dal-gvern s'issa helisna minnha.

Part 2 of 2

6. Why traffic in Manwel Dimech Street flow/moves uphill instead of downhill. A car moving uphill creates more emissions that a car moving down hill. Do you need to be a scientist to understand this basic principle!
7. Why most of the traffic that flows from Manwel Dimech Street to Gzira jams next to Sliema Police Station and rarely a policeman is seen tackling this everyday situation. Why are cars left to double park just 5 meters away from Sliema Police Station?
8. Why are busses left to reverse in a main road, thus breaking the law and creating havoc and danger to private drivers? In order to park their vehicle, buss drivers have to reverse to park in SLIEMA TERMINUS; this had been going on for ages, and ironically this shambles occurs meters away from Sliema Police Station. This causes traffic in the area, though I have to recognise that it is not the buss driver’s fault. The problem is the terminus’s location.
10. Why trucks are left to dispatch goods to stores all the day long? New laws that stipulate time and days of delivery in Sliema should be taken into consideration by authorities.

Part 1 of 2

1. If our government wants to decrease the level of pollution in our country why a car bought new, from let say Italy costs 15000 Euros, and the same car model bought new from Malta costs 25000 Euros or even more? If cars in Malta where cheaper, people would be able to change their car and buy models that are more environmentally friendly.
2. Why are we building narrow roads? Narrow roads = traffic jams = pollution.
3. Why are we limiting the cruising speed in arterial roads? This is pure madness. The faster the traffic moves, the less congestion; thus less pollution. A slower car emits more. A jammed care emits even more.
4. Why is it that in Malta we are discussing about implementing Euro 3 busses standards, when in the rest of Europe governments are implementing Euro 6 busses standards?
5. From studies published during the years, Sliema has one of the highest cancer rates in Malta. Can our distinguished politicians start tackling this problem with the attention that it deserves!

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Car is GOD in Malta , Simple solution to all the polution they cause, MAXIMUM cars per house 2 [And this is one too many] Opposite me in Attard man wife 2 kids 6CARS!!!! all modern not cheapos, Poor people in Malta!! You are joking, Money is GOD here in Malta, So why so many Churches I don,t know, any outsider would think the Maltese were religeous!! -----

This is a stupid solution. The household you mentioned can only drive two cars at one go.

I have 2 cars, do I make double the pollution? NO... I can only drive one car at any time. An individual (/household) having 1, 2 or 99 cars do not produce different amount of pollution.

@ Joseph Grech..there is a u/g car park in Sliema which though quite dirty enables one to park and go for a coffee or a stroll....As for the concrete jungle I agree with you. What bad tastes our modern architects have? Incredible

Car is GOD in Malta , Simple solution to all the polution they cause, MAXIMUM cars per house 2 [And this is one too many] Opposite me in Attard man wife 2 kids 6CARS!!!! all modern not cheapos, Poor people in Malta!! You are joking, Money is GOD here in Malta, So why so many Churches I don,t know, any outsider would think the Maltese were religeous!!

I am all for progress, but why does progress involve hurting the environment and slowly killing our health. Like the rest of the planet, Malta'a Gouvernment and Developers only care about money and not the future of our children.

Anthony Briffa
Did you find anything like that in my posting?

How about Gonzi adopting the tip from M Formosa.
How about stopping all high rise buildings?

J Martinelli
Signs of progress Martinelli? Why don't you come and live here in the Nirvana you imagine we are living? Maybe then we will stop taking your postings with more than a pinch of salt in your attempt to defend the indefensible, namely Gonzi's incompetence and arrogance. Did you know that GONZI is responsible for MEPA?

Only yesterday my wife and I visited Sliema. Parking was a real problem but we finally found an empty parking slot - just in time - we were about to give up and drive away as we often do!
Then we walked up Bisazza Street, some way along the coast and back into the Tigne area and down to the ferries again. Traffic was heavy - pollution was scandalous and I certainly am not exaggerating. As for the sights - our ''leaders'' have well and truly f--------- Sliema well and good. It has become one huge concrete jungle.
How can we expect tourists to visit when we keep annihilating the typical Maltese landscape so irresponsibly? Why do the authorities treat the health of the Maltese and visitors with such brazen irresponsibility?

Another high rise? why don't you take a few days off and camp in the Midi project Mr Martinelli,then you will experience what high rise and narrow roads are all about. You will experience for yourself not seeing sunlight and the wind tunnels which have been created,so bad that trees are dying already and very few plants stay alive. You will also learn a lot about people's living habits,what time they wake,go to sleep,use the bathroom etc cause the roads are so narrow that you practically live in each other's apartment. The winter cold will also be a huge problem with no natural sunlight to warm it up and so will the use of electricity during the day.

If it's so fine and dandy here,why did you run away to Canada from where you dare to tell us what is or isn't good for us. Living so far away you have little right to comment. Actually your anon sense is beginning to bore me.Please give it a rest.

may i suggest to all these grumblers: MOVE OFF TO COMINO, wher e the air is clean and the ground is still pristine. The sooner you move away from sliema the better. For how long they will remain in COmino, will be seen within one week, when they would have polluted all the small island and left it in shambles and we would be back to square one. This matter about the environment is costing us millions of euros. To our detriment and to the laughs of the now defunct AD.

The average population on the land surface of the world is 45 people per square kilometer (117 per sq mile). in malta it's 1,274 people per square kilometer (3300 per sq mile).It's the 8th most densly populated country on the planet. It's built up here to say the least and it's industrialised. couple this with certain dated things like the old buses and , of course, lots of construction work etc. i woud say that pollution is inevitable. We need to submit the requested information and constructively work on any proposals to reduce pollution best we can in the confined space of Malta to make the best of what is physically a very difficult situation hindered by lack of space and every growing population.

@ J Oatmon

It's not only the busses that belch out black smoke.
It's even modern Vans, 4 x 4, modern cars.....They are all at it.

I cant see why polution from veheciles are not enforced.
My suggestion is :
Have a roaming team of enforcers. If they come across a smokey vehecle...Give the Driver an on the spot fine ( say 100 euros ) take a samlpe from the tank send it to be analised...If found to contain more than just deisel then a furthur fine is issued.

So Simple.

If you think about it busses are the least of our problems.
The reason being a route bus may only pass every 15 minutes, but during that 15 minutes propably 200 polluting cars, vans etc have passed.

Since living in Sliema/Gzira area I became sick with asthma so I had to leave that area and go somewhere else which is not much polluted. I am happy to hear this that the European Commission is taking a stand against Malta. That is why I voted for Europe because I knew that Europe will be defending us citizens against rude Maltese governments coming from eithor side of the political sphere.

The only solution is to knock down buildings and widen the roads to accommodate more traffic although, a road may have to go around a dilapidated building which was 'scheduled' by MEPA.

In the meantime, build a high rise apartment building in order to accommodate the displaced families whose home had to be razed to make way for the roads.

Then you have homeowners/renters mad, no doubt FAA will round up a few hundred to protest against the building of yet another high rise in Sliema and AD will certainly find fault with permits, design etc. and go crying to the EU.

People grumble anyway and any sign of progress will meet with more ire even before they check facts and, of course, depending on who makes an application to MEPA who is solely responsible for such matters.

Then if people do not like MEPA's decision, there is always the government to blame. Since the government gets the blame anyway, why not abolish MEPA and let the honourable Ministers decide every application, whether it be to improve a bathroom or building a multi-apartment building, in or outside of ODZs.

That would be progress ala a few decades ago!

@ L. Galea - Is is very easy for you to put the blame on Dr. Gonzi - but let me assure you that in four years time you will be defending Joe Muscat if the predictions are correct and he becomes PM. PS Do not tell me that I have an axe to grind, I am now a fully fledged PN supporter and Councillor.

@ J Oatman whilst I agree that there are still very old busses on our roads , although there are over 100 which cannot be considered 'old', we must point our fingers also at other commercial and private vehicles, which in many cases are 'fuming' as much as the busses if not more, and these are also damaging our roads with their heavy weight.

@ Arnold and other bloggers, please read and continue reading the comments made by E. Gatt and Andrew Vella until such time that you come up with an acceptable suggestion.

@ Arnold & AD - As 'green champions' how about removing the Bill Board/s wit h your Photo and that of the spanish named candidate - no insult intended - or are you expecting to obtain more votes!.

Michael Seychell

Sliema today is a totally different place than how it was years ago. It's so noisy and polluted, between the construction dust and the traffic grit one ends up paying a huge amount just to get an apartment in what is supposed to be considered as a prime location.

Mrabat Street, Dimech Street and Rue D’Argens are probably the worst streets for traffic jams and to make matters worse they are on steep hills (more engine gear changing).

In recent years lead was removed from petrol – people grumbled.
VRT was introduced to ensure lower emissions – people grumbled
Measures were taken to discourage use of older cars – people grumbled.
This summer the government plans to reform public transport and replace old busses – expect much more grumbling!

All these reforms cost time and money, our taxpayers’ money. What does AD do to ‘solve’ the problem? They ask the European Commission to take action (presumably including a payment of fines from our taxes) against Malta! Thanks AD!

Though I'm not a resident of Sliema, I love the place.

Is there anyone, AD, bloggers or whoever who has a solution to the traffic and polution problems? Because I cannot think of any solution which will not severly impact the comfort of the residents.

So please, Inspire me with your solutions

No surprise at all. My mother in law lives in Manuel Dimech. Last year she gave my wife a vintage fur coat which was hanging in her wardrobe, in a plastic bag, for many years. When we got back to Canada I took it to get it dry cleaned. The next day I got a phone call from the cleaners. They asked me if the coat was hanging in a garage somewhere, because after rinsing it six times, the grit and black soot would not stop coming out of it. Malta should introduce LPG for all cars, as they have in Italy. Incidentally news cars in Italy are even equipped with LPG should one want to fuel their car that way. It is clean, green and the engine will last longer. I have written about this, to some influential people on the island but so far I have never read anything about it in the TImes. It's about time.

We all know the main polluters - it's the ancient buses with their obsolete diesel engines and worn out injection pumps (which are expensive to replace).

What is needed is proper law enforcement to check every bus (random roadside checks are best (as used in Europe) to avoid the use of 'short term, bodged up, cheap fixes' now being used to enable a pass).

Once these ancient buses (and other old badly maintained polluters) are off the roads or properly fixed for the longer term - the air quality will improve dramatically.

@ Galea L

So in your opinion for the Gonzi Government to be efficient is to ban all traffic from the mentioned streets and other inhabited areas. An then what will the car owners, especially those who are claiming VAT on ther recently purchased cars do? Should they start to leave their cars locked to rot in the garages. Hallina!!!!!

How about Marsa???

This is why we needed an AD MEP...

...we take our health and environment for granted. They are seen as petit political issues - time will tell.

I suggest that they inspect the south of the Island too. I live in tarxien and my roof is always filled with black dust which is surely being inhaled in our lungs and our children's lungs.
EU please check this out!!!

That's bad news.
Bad news because of the pollution and bad news because it is not incompetent Gonzi and his Ministers that will be made to pay the fines but the Maltese citizens through their taxes.

You just need to walk through the mentioned roads and streets and have a look to the facades of the houses in them to notice the amount of carbon dioxide and pollution the residents and passerbies are exposed to !!!!

I hope that the Commission takes action in respect to the pollution present in Fgura as well!