Plans to reserve all Sliema roads for residents' parking

Non-residents driving to Sliema may soon face an even bigger nightmare amid plans to introduce residential parking in all the town's streets.

The local council has applied to the Malta Transport Authority for a permit to introduce resident parking schemes on all 117 roads, Sliema's new mayor Nikki Dimech told The Sunday Times. Seventy-nine have so far been approved.

But the mayor insisted that the controversial scheme would not be introduced overnight and said he wanted everybody to be on board before its implementation.

Sliema is one of 19 towns and villages where reserved parking zones for residents have been approved by the ADT. Although the authority insisted that none of the schemes are new, the one in Sliema has not yet been introduced.

According to the residential parking scheme being proposed by the local council, residents can park in 50 per cent of the parking bays along any given street without any time restrictions. The rest will have a two-hour restriction between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Mr Dimech explained that in those roads with parking on both sides, one side will be reserved exclusively for residents. On the other side, both residents and visitors may park but the latter will have a two-hour time restriction.

Mr Dimech said the parking scheme had been requested by residents and has been in the pipeline for the past eight years.

The mayor insisted the decision was based on technical studies and had been approved by the ADT as well as the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU.

However, the Sliema Residents' Association last week lashed out against the proposed residential parking scheme, saying it would not resolve traffic problems.

It said the scheme was "a rather lopsided fix that falsely appeared to favour residents but instead seemed to be another half-baked and ill-considered short-term solution".

Sliema's business community also attacked the scheme, but Mr Dimech said this was one of the problems the council had to address when fine-tuning the system.

Mr Dimech said: "All I am asking is for people to give me some time to find the perfect solution. Things don't change in a day and I was quite surprised to see letters published in newspapers expecting this to be implemented overnight... I first want to make sure that all stakeholders' issues are addressed and, if possible, solved, before implementing it."

According to the mayor, the council wanted to address the problems the scheme would cause for the 4,000 people who work in Sliema daily. It was also seeking to discuss concerns expressed by the owners of the 157 outlets in the shopping areas and address the issue of relatives visiting people who live in Sliema.

"I cannot promise that all issues are going to be solved. However, the council is determined to try to solve as many as possible," he said.

"We will try finding a win-win solution to the concerns being raised but my point of departure is that residents always come first." Mr Dimech explained that the issue is closely linked to the possibility of a car park being built in Sliema to provide parking spaces for visitors.

One of the initiatives being contemplated would be similar to the current CVA system in Valletta, though it would be operated through a mobile phone service.

"We are looking into introducing a payment system similar to the parking meters found in major European cities but based on a more modern, mobile-based technology.

"The payment rate would be equal to what one pays to park in a car park and the profits will only be used to finance the resurfacing of Sliema's roads and pavements. For the working community, we are considering a subsidised rate but discussions still have to take place," Mr Dimech said.

mxuereb@timesofmalta.com