Bisazza Street works ‘causing misery’

Paving works along Bisazza Street are jeopardising the health and quality of life of residents and causing inconvenience to traffic, according to the Sliema Residents’ Association.

Particularly irked that they were not consulted, although promised, before works started, the SRA and the Qui-Si-Sana and Tigné Residents Association said the Rural Affairs Ministry’s decision was untimely.

The project, they said, should have taken place after the completion of the Qui-Si-Sana and Tigné perimeter roads, linked together by the Midi tunnel, which has been ready but unopened for three years.

They complained that closing Bisazza Street for five months to widen the pavement and repave the area meant traffic would be re-routed through the heart of Qui-Si-Sana and down the narrow and steep hill of St Anthony Street.

“This re-routing will precipitate the traffic chaos that presently exists in the residential area due to other works, and will cause misery and hardship for the residents of Qui-Si-Sana and Tigné, as thousands of cars, trucks and buses will be pouring daily past their front doors,” the associations said.

As The Times visited the area to get reactions from shopkeepers, women in stilettos were trying not to stumble on the rubble that makes up the Bizazza Street pavement. A cement truck passed by, blowing black exhaust.

To make matters worse, the tower crane blocking part of the pavement on one side of the road is still there.

However, shop owners maintained that although they were feeling the economic squeeze while works were in progress, they said the embellishments would turn out in their favour in the long run.

“To improve things you have to work. Even at home, if you want to paint you have to cover the furniture,” a jewellery shopkeeper said, pointing out that if a person really wanted to buy something from a particular store, they would even go through mud to get to it.

Last week’s rainy weather meant the muddy situation was a reality for Bisazza Street shoppers, one phone outlet pointed out.

A food outlet owner said that although he has seen a 25 per cent drop in business since the works started, it would be worth it in the long run.

However, one shoe shop owner said the works had hit his shop hard, and sales had dropped by half.

“We’re behind the chicken wire. People don’t even know whether we’re open or closed,” he said, pointing out that the works should have been carried out in sections, so as not to disturb the business of the whole road.

This was echoed by the owner of another phone outlet, who said the contractors should have recruited as many workers as possible, to speed up the works and limit the inconvenience to the shops.

His business, he said, had also fallen by some 50 per cent, and the dust brought in by the works and the noise pollution made the situation worse.

A customer in the store, who works in offices in Bisazza Street, pointed out that traffic was so bad since the works started that many times it took her some 35 minutes to drive from Next at the top of the street to the bottom.

Questions sent to the ministry remained unanswered at the time of going to print.