Updated: Anglu Xuereb proposes big Floriana car park

Bok Kelly

Oct 2nd 2009, 14:38

J.Aquilina, as I said below, even a light railway system (like London's DLR) would be better than looking for a car based solution.

J.Aquilina

Oct 2nd 2009, 14:05

Why don't the authorities consider seriously and do a complete study of building an underground network. This would be fast and most probably would help (if run efficiently) in eliminating a number of cars from our roads during the week, hence less frustrations in traffic jams and less polution. I am sure that the goverment will find private partners to carry out such a project.

B Agius

Oct 2nd 2009, 12:44

Why don't they finish the existing Floriana carpark properly? Or is it finished? It doesn't look like it - it looks like they've run out of money and stopped the development half way thru - or is that one of those things we do in Malta?i

H. Camilleri

Oct 2nd 2009, 09:11

Mmmm, impressive project which it should really be considered....

.... personaly i think that this 'parking problem solver' is a much better project then the 'Bieb il-Belt' Renzo Piano project.

Dear Government, go for it and trash Piano's plans!

Karl Farrugia

Oct 2nd 2009, 08:20

Sounds expensive...
What about spending a fraction of that money in modernising the public transport system with better buses, more frequent routes, better scheduling, and improved bus-stops to eliminate the cars instead of providing them space? Remember that this isn't only healthy, but will also contribute towards the CO2 emission cutting everyone is expected to comply to nowadays. Sounds like a win-win solution to me.

Alex Wright

Oct 1st 2009, 14:37

According the the plan the MCP was supposed to be roofed and its surface area returned to its original state" Public Garden". This was never done and the middle of the MCP is empty and was never build and with out any permission a tunnel was done under the hospital building that lets out under Crucifix hill. We Do not neet any more MCP, what about our health? or is Mr. Xuereb only looking at the revinue it will make him but us residance will suffer. Would Mr. Xuereb be ready to exchange his house with mine and come and live near his proposed MCP? Who does he think he is kiding when he trys to sell it to us that he is doing this because shops will lose there sales. If Mr Xuereb is ready to exchange houses or build us all houses close to his house than I say OK go ahead. No More Cars PLEASE we have enough of health problems with all the concentrated car fumes in Floriana. Keep the MCP close to your home. Thanks

J. Muscat

Oct 1st 2009, 11:12

I agree with:
1 roofing the middle and building up of the current Floriana car park and having a garden on top of it.
2 rehabilitation of the ditch area by charging a small fee which goes directly towards this maintenance
3 the Floriana football ground should be dug up and a car park built for the government employees working in the vicinity (during the week) and on top a Floriana / Valletta Stadium with a seating capacity of 5000 people also utilising the car park in the weekend. Lets give these two major clubs a decent Stadium!

louis zammit

Oct 1st 2009, 10:28

i fully agree that the MCP car park in floriana should be roofed creating more car spaces with evry extra roof floor.... i think that should c in all about 300 more car spac and yes that ugy eye e be covered up by a landscaped public garden.....and then we do not need any other eye soar.another car park

Mark Cushcieri

Oct 1st 2009, 10:21

other propositions from this brilliant maltese entreprenaur are:-
building a statue of La Vallette in the centre...now thats a great idea.. i hope pn takes head...we need to re invent our image as a country...La Vallette statue in Valletta is a brilliant idea. Another idea is to decrease the ministers..I also agree especially those who have been in the position for far too long . maybe corruption will also decrease then

Mark Cushcieri

Oct 1st 2009, 10:12

mux ekk aw malta ir real estates jixtru l propjeta kolla u joqodu jikruha u jbihhu u ahna l haddima irridu nahdmu 40 sena al dar ghalina. Kapitalizmu mistohbi wara demokrazija nsejjahlu jin. dahlia perry sarah grech frank salt etc..have taken all our country's properties

F Brincat

Oct 1st 2009, 09:48

Mela mela.... car park iehor jonqosna. Car parks, Hotels, djar antiki u sbieh jaqaw u blocks tal-flats bla sugu tielghajn qishom haxix hazin, karozzi fuq it-triq jizdiedu daqs ic-Cinizi, l-ahdar dejjem jonqos u l-griz tal-concrete dejjem jizdied. Proset tassew! Viva d-development. Imma heqq certu nies buthom qatt m'hu ohxon bizzejjed u xalabiebhom mill-ambjent etc etc etc. Kliemhom taz-zokkor biex taparsi kulhadd ha jgawdi bil-progetti genjali taghhom. Tajjeb hekk. Komplu hekk. We're on the right track! Serrah mohhok Guz!

Galea. L

Oct 1st 2009, 09:18

Is it going to be free?

C.ZARB

Oct 1st 2009, 07:56

@ Alex Borg

Its not as easy as one may think. There are a substantial number of people who need to constantly go in and out of Valletta for meetings so an efficient public transport won't do the trick for them. Not to forget that traffic congestion is witnessed nearly everywhere in Malta, from Valletta/Floriana Sliema, Msida, Marsa, Birkirkara and Fgura. We all know that buses can't fly above traffic so an efficient public transport will remain a dream UNLESS we solve such problem.

Read my points (in a previous blog) and tell me what you think.

Mark Cushcieri

Oct 1st 2009, 07:40

@clare spiteri
Mr.Xuereb job is a contractor/ builder...so guess what the builder built a big house for himself...whats strange with that.
listen to this hidden media in youtube. qed najd hidden ax dal bnidem qas biss kont naf bih mil media pn./mlp kelli noqod nqalleb flinternet bix insir naf l opinjonijiet tieghu.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDKexSioZZY
ismawa u decidu intom huwiex jitkellem bis sens.

clare spiteri

Oct 1st 2009, 06:31

Yet another good idea from Mr Anglu Xuereb.His Palace Hotel ("a 5 Star Hotel") in High Street Sliema,built in the heart of a residential area, after pulling down Alexandria Gardens, next to a 17th century chapel. Is this another example of Mr Anglu Xuereb's good ideas?

Alex Borg

Sep 30th 2009, 23:44

What we need is an efficient public transport system not yet another car park. Another car park will mean encouraging people to use their cars to go to Valletta, consequently contributing more traffic and carbon emissions.

David Zammit

Sep 30th 2009, 23:43

Seems like a logical idea.
I think this concept should be taken up seriously. Its the volume of people that make a city a city. As for increased traffic one could create a one way traffic sysem around Valletta, this should solve a lot of bottle necks.

Silvio Scicluna

Sep 30th 2009, 19:42

Why do we have think about underground parking to solve our parking problem. We will solve part of the problem and create another, dumping problem. At Valletta there are derilict buildings that could be turned into a multistorey carpark. There are lifts for restricted areas. We do not have to excavate. Come on think of other ideas.

Frederick Attard

Sep 30th 2009, 17:52

Mr Xuereb is a big fan of our capital city Valletta as I personally had the opportunity to witness at first hand his ideas to turn Valletta to a truly admirable city.

For years he has suggested a refurbishment of Freedom Square and his plans have been published by this newspaper a couple of years ago. It is a shame that the authorities do not give Mr Xuereb some credit for his ideas, including the possibility of introducing a Monorail Transportation System in Malta, which, being the most densly populated country in the European Union, I am sure the government would be able to apply for EU funding to execute such project that will rid our island from so many cars and air pollution.

Despite political differences, entrepreneurs such as Mr Xuereb should be given room for discussing their ideas and with so many Authorities nowadays in Malta, I am sure that just as fast as we gave a blue print to the Dubai investors for Smart City, we could equally give such opportunities to Maltese business man if they sign contractual obligations to met government requirements.

Astrid Vella

Sep 30th 2009, 16:26

@ Ernest Causon and A Fabri: The MCP Carpark permit stipulates that it had to be covered over and landscaped. Before anyone asks "What about ventilation?", ventilation is provided mechanically in multi-storey carparks all over the world, it's not rocket science, though of course it entails extra expense.

Mr Fabri says its an eyesore from a bird's eye view - it's any eyesore from any point of view! Which capital city of Europe can boast of an unsightly multi-storey crater right at its entrance? Why have our authorities done nothing to enforce the terms of the permit which they themselves drew up? This is another case like MIDI whose concession of Tigne Point and Manoel Island was subject to the building of a breakwater. Has anyone seen a breakwater at Marsamxett recently?

This is why people are so skeptical of MEPA and public authorities who are not prepared to enforce the conditions they pretend to impose on developers, for one can only call it pretence or 'bzar fl-ghajnejn' when it happens time and time again. You can fool the people part of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

Raymond Sammut

Sep 30th 2009, 15:25

Up to 3,000 vehicles converging on Floriana will inevitably create bottlenecks. When in Malta, I needed to travel by bus through St Venera, Hamrun, Blata-il Bajda, and we always used to get stuck at the Hamrun shops. There will surely be other similar bottlenecks.

Mr Xuereb's proposition is the most logical thing to do. Many of us will have pictured a similar set-up. It cannot work by itself, however. One will also need to take a bird's eye view of traffic flows, frequency, and intensity. Otherwise, a car-park can potentially create more problems than it solves. Mr Xuereb is right to insist also on a more efficient public transport that would mitigate the need for car-parking.

Moving government departments and ministries in a new public administration development at Floriana (Belt Is-Sebh) should have been done years ago. Valletta cannot continue to suffer so greatly from so much human activity, considering especially that it is also located right above the two harbours. Valletta is besieged in a new and far more dangerous way, and needs to be relieved at the earliest.

malcolm seychell

Sep 30th 2009, 14:09

Mr Xuereb has excellent ideas. It is a pity that in Malta we always have to put politics in the middle.

I think every government should use the talent of the best people we have and Mr Xuereb is surely one of them.

I must say I learnt a lot from Mr Xuereb when we were in the same party. His organisational skills and vision is quite impressive.

Richard galea

Sep 30th 2009, 13:44

At last we have A practical man in our fold who calls a spade a spade........unlike the sophisticated people in power.......dreaming of eternal glory in a roofless theatre!

ernest causon

Sep 30th 2009, 13:39

I fully agree with Mr Xuereb's suggestion that the MCP car park should be roofed over with a landscaped public garden. It is a horrible eyesore as it is. This is exactly what they did in Monte Carlo. Tha large square opposite the Casino is a wonderful garden with all sorts of beautiful flowers and one would hardly notice that underneat is a huge parking place

Mark Galea

Sep 30th 2009, 13:19

The parking problem is huge, but the solution is extremely easy ... move a few government departments out of Valletta. That's all it takes.
Historical building filled with employees, some of which could easily be turned into tourist attactions.

Mark Cushcieri

Sep 30th 2009, 13:15

@bob kelly
an underground or ground level railway would solve many problems true..but i guess that's too much for malta's current budget...if you see the 'post world war 2 era' buses you will understand heh

Bob Kelly

Sep 30th 2009, 12:57

I have visited Malta for many years, and find the bus service reasonably reliable and good value for money. As a tourist I appreciate that I don't have to rely on using it for commuting to work when I understand that many of the problems occur. But as a tourist I fully appreciate the horrendous parking problem that exists just about everywhere on the Island.

What I have never understood is why Malta hasn't invested in a light railway system, like London’s DLR. Surely with the problems associated with congestion, pollution, an antiquated bus system and severe lack of parking it would be the obvious solution

George Bugeja

Sep 30th 2009, 12:53

Excavating St Magdalene’s Ravelin is a great idea. It would be fascinating to find it still there intact.

J. MELI

Sep 30th 2009, 12:34

In my opinion, I think that all car parks need to have a good ventilation as that in Floriana opposite the Hotel or RAF monument. If you make half of the area for ventilation, than the proposed car parks will become too small. Suggest to build more than one car park.

Another point if I'm not mistaken, under the Floriana Ground passes the former tram tunnel from Valletta and goes out of Port-de-bombs? But I am not sure?

G.Debono

Sep 30th 2009, 12:32

Vincent Gauci

Not sure if it will not attract more cars than what it attracts presently.

What happens now, is that people will try their luck to find a parking space around Valletta and if not, park elsewhere, Floriana, park and ride, etc...

What will happen with more parking spaces, is that the same people will try their luck again like in the previous case, only this time they do park there. Nothing changes, you have the same in flows and outflows, only the timing of the outflows might change, keep the increase in imported cars out of the equation.

We cannot ban all cars from Malta and never do any parking space in any place in this country, because it creates more traffic flows.

In my opinion, you cannot just elliminate 1000's of currently free parking spaces and not plan for other ones when the free ones are elliminated, because then you push the problem on the outskirts only. I.e. Floriana, Hamrun, Pieta, etc...

A Fabri

Sep 30th 2009, 12:26

A very good idea indeed..........but I question if developer is going to leave a another big large whole in the middle of a gren area......heq as in the case of other car park few metres away.

If I m not mistaken, proposal for that carpark included the re-instatement of all previous original landscape areas.
What an eyesore seeing it from a bird's view!!!!!!!!!

C.ZARB

Sep 30th 2009, 12:13

I am one of those, who chooses to use public transport regularly. On the other hand one must bear in mind that Valletta is business and tourist hub. Many people working there has to continually leave/return to their office for meetings. Therefore, even an efficient public transport (unless its not at the same efficiency level of London's underground) won't prove good enough for these people. Let us not forget that not everyone have a driver at his disposal and can afford parking on yellow lines without getting a fine.

In my opinion we should

A) Incentive (both government's departments and private entities) organisations to leave Valletta.
B) Improve public transportation
C) Create some sort of (elegant) bridges between the 3 cities and Valletta. In that way you would reduce traffic congestion (making public transport more efficient while reducing pollution). Same thing can be made between Sliema and Valletta

If the government is not ready to do so then Mr Xuereb's idea is the second best option.

P Debono

Sep 30th 2009, 12:11

That's a good idea. Certainly better than the monstrous, expensive and totally out-of-place 80 million euro Parliament.

Vincent Gauci

Sep 30th 2009, 11:51

More parking places would simply encourage private transport. This would bring more cars on our roads. This has happened elsewhere and will happen in Malta. Do we really want this?
What we need is a different kind of mobility when the private car would be used only when absolutely essential.
So thumbs up for a more a better and efficient public transport system.

Tonio Bone

Sep 30th 2009, 11:45

Angelo Xuereb has always been a visionary and proposer of good ideas. The problem is that his ideas never quite met the agenda of contractors under the wings of the administrators that count!!! The parking idea at Floriana is excellent. May I humbly suggest another suitable location for such a project. Curiously, Evans Building (the ID Card place!) is being knocked down for yet ANOTHER hotel. It's a huge area, especially with the primary school just opposite. So why not use this area in the heart of the City for an 8/10 story underground parking....you can still build you hotel on top, no?

Joe Raimondo

Sep 30th 2009, 11:33

How about creating another multi storey car park in that huge wasted big space in the middle of the current underground car park just outside Valletta.

L Bonnici

Sep 30th 2009, 11:31

The addition of parking spaces won't solve the issue... this will only attract more cars to valletta and floriana i.e. increasing congestion towards Valletta in the mornings and peak hours + increasing pollution levels. St. Anne street in Floriana is the most polluted road in Malta (for a number of reasons not just cars, but dockyard, cruise liners, etc...) the addition of 3000 more cars in floriana would be another blow to the harbour region's lung...

What should be done is to improve public transport, increase its efficiency, encourage car pooling, and reduce the need for private car trips. I'm not sure Mr. Xuereb thought about this issues before the news conference...

Gerard Cassar

Sep 30th 2009, 11:25

The large hole in the ground that ought to have been an underground car park not an open air one will be taken into consideration if any plan for an underground car park is launched under the P.N. It quickly turns out to become an open air one.
It is even suggested that the present eye sore constituted by the open air car park be roofed to restore the surroundings to their pristine state.

D.Zammit

Sep 30th 2009, 11:10

let's go for it, between Government and other sectors.

Charles Micallef

Sep 30th 2009, 11:09

It sounds an excellent and a very attainable idea, the present underground car park has become far too small!

Mark Cushcieri

Sep 30th 2009, 11:01

not a bad idea. considering the traffic and parking problem we have in malta.