The real plight of Qawra and Buġibba (1)

As one of the many morning strollers who make use of the Qawra-Buġibba promenade, one can understand the frustrations of the number of caring people who constantly write in and complain about this area, when compared with complaints about promenades in other resorts like Sliema and St Julians on which one hardly ever reads anything negative.

One has to understand that the standard of the general services offered in any locality are related to the standards of "service expectations" of a particular local council. Some councils seem to think that providing a refuse collection service and painting two railings a day (if that) along the promenade will suffice to keep the locals happy. However, the various letters from caring readers, show the neglect that Qawra and Buġibba have been putting up with for many years. They expect better and professional standards of services, maintenance and upgrading programmes!

The seafront promenade was built to enable the people to see the sea and enjoy the magnificent views. The trees referred to in one of the recent letters are overgrown and uncared for bushes and all they need is trimming, and the sea and the view will appear in no time at all!

The benches situated along the promenade have been designed by a masochist who did not have a clue how to design a comfortable seat as can be seen by the limited number of users, whose posterior does not allow them to spend more than 10 minutes seated on any one occasion. Again they only require minor alterations to make them more comfortable.

There are a number of yellow phone boxes which will now qualify as museum pieces, which besides being an eyesore, are mostly vandalised and should be replaced and re-sited in a recess behind the metal rails to allow a better flow of people on the actual promenade.

Kiosks are part and parcel of any promenade but some of the ones in Qawra and Buġibba should be encouraged to modernise. Some date back to the 1960s when silver aluminium was in fashion. To make things look more unsightly some have deposited metal container type structures next to their kiosks which they use as storerooms. Some kiosks are also occupying six-fold the public land that the permit was granted on. The talk is that these people are politically well connected hence they are somehow permitted to abuse the system! If these rumours are not factual why would the Lands Department allow this abuse of very lucrative and prime public land? Why not take the appropriate action as they did in other resorts and administer equal justice to all public land abusers!

One can go on forever and highlight some of the misgivings that affect people's enjoyment of Qawra and Buġibba. It is a pity that these contributions are not taken note of but are instead dismissed with pathetic answers if not silly excuses.

We are now told that the whole of the promenade between Ta' Fra Ben and St Paul's Bay School is being upgraded, and one would like to ask, what position in the "pipeline" is this project? Is it before the car park in Qawra, the marina in Xemxija or the project at Ta' Fra Ben or perhaps before the famous Sirens restrooms?