Two Valletta organisations are only willing to accept that part of the pedestrianised Merchants Street is used as a car park for parliamentarians if this is a temporary measure, given the parking problem in the capital.
“There is a parking problem in Valletta that has to be solved. If this (the parking for MPs) is a temporary solution and there is a concept for a long-term solution, then I’d say it can be temporarily acceptable,” Claude Borg, Valletta Rehabilitation Project executive coordinator, said.
He said the organisation had not been involved in the decision taken last week following consultation between the whips of the two sides of the House and the Valletta local council.
Works started on Tuesday when stainless steel plates were fitted into the lava paving to mark the 70 parking bays in Merchants Street and Market Square reserved for MPs during Parliamentary sittings. This arrangement is meant to be temporary until the new Parliament building is completed in Freedom Square as part of the Renzo Piano project.
Previously, MPs used to park in reserved spaces along Republic Street, part of Archbishop Street and the lower part of Merchants Street. They will park there during morning sittings when Merchant Street is taken up by the market stalls.
While agreeing with the government that the steel plates and the cars will not damage the paving laid down two years ago, Mr Borg said a pedestrianised area ideally remained free of cars. On the other hand, he pointed out, having the MPs’ cars there meant they were not taking up precious parking spots in the capital.
Alfred Zahra, from the Valletta Alive Foundation, agreed the parking problem in Valletta had to be solved, a concern raised by the capital’s business community.
The foundation agreed with pedestrianisation but was concerned that parking spaces were being eliminated and not replaced. As for the parking for MPs, he said: “To a certain point, I agree there is nowhere to put them but this will be discussed by the foundation during a meeting on Wednesday.”
Replying to a parliamentary question recently, Transport Minister Austin Gatt said there were almost 2,000 parking spots in Valletta. Of these 1,414 were used by the public all day, 133 were only for residents and 413 could be used by the public between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. and were reserved for residents the rest of the time.
In 2007, Dr Gatt had written an opinion piece in The Times, titled Merchants Street As It Deserves To Be, where he sang the praises of pedestrianising the widest, oldest street in Valletta. “Till recently you were faced with... cars and dirty, black buildings with people milling in and out of cars parked on pavements,” he had written.
He urged readers to imagine a “road with museums, merchants and cafes ending with a refurbished indoor market and fronted with a well organised monti, giving the shopper, the tourist and passer-by a unique experience”.
Denise Mulholland, who lives in Market Square, said residing in Valletta had become a nightmare when the yellow boxes for MPs were painted around March. Now that these boxes had been cleared for residents to use the parking spaces, the situation had improved. However, it was a pity to see the pedestrianised area taken up by big cars.
“MPs should lead by example. Does each one them have to drive to Parliament in their own car? Why don’t they use a common transport system like the park and ride or something similar,” she asked.
She pointed out that the new signposts, marking the MPs’ reserved spots for evening or morning sittings, assumed people knew when Parliament met, which was not the case.