Mosta local council was discussing the renovation of a public car park with Resource Ministry officials “just two weeks” before it was included in a call for tenders for the management of 34 car parks, a Mosta councillor has claimed.
The way in which councils have been ignored has overstepped the mark
“The council had met informally with ministry officials just two weeks before the car park proposals were announced, and officials never gave us any indication of them,” PL councillor Alex Muscat said yesterday.
A call for tenders issued by Transport Malta was suspended by the government less than a week after it was first issued, following vociferous criticism from local councils, residents, the PL and Alternattiva Demokratika.
Transport Minister Austin Gatt has insisted that the decision was “not a ministerial decision but a Cabinet decision” and that the Cabinet had approved the plans weeks before they were made public.
But according to Dr Muscat, resource ministry officials made no mention of the proposals when they met with council representatives a few weeks ago.
The most recent council meeting minutes available online date to a meeting held on September 6. According to the minutes, plans to restructure Mosta’s Pjazza Rotunda car park area “were presented to [Resource] Minister [George] Pullicino who was considering carrying out the project using central government funds”.
A ministry spokesman acknowledged that discussions between ministry officials and Mosta local council had taken place but insisted they were at a “preliminary” stage and therefore did not involve any discussion about car park management.
Dr Muscat and councillors from Floriana, Valletta and Rabat local councils gathered yesterday in Rabat to denounce the “unjust” way in which the car park tendering process had sidelined local councils.
Rabat mayor Sandro Craus said that a petition against the proposals had garnered 2,375 signatures from Rabat residents in just under a week.
The petition, which was also endorsed by Dingli and Mtarfa local councils, was presented in Parliament yesterday by Independent MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.
Mr Craus said that although not all affected councils had spoken out, they had all informally indicated that they were against the proposals.
“Some things shouldn’t be tarred with a political brush,” the PL mayor argued.
Local councils, Mr Craus said, were perfectly capable of managing car parks. “Many councillors I spoke to felt that the way in which councils have been ignored has overstepped the mark when it comes to respecting local governance.”
Each car park needed to be considered on its own merits, he argued, citing car parks close to health centres, residential areas or services for the elderly as examples.
And while Mr Craus said that Rabat local council would be pushing for all car parks in the locality to remain free – something Floriana PL councillor Vince Borg seconded – he said each council would have to make that call on its own.
Dr Muscat insisted that councils were not against involving the private sector in running car parks but against the way the matter had been handled.
“Some of the car parks are closed off and used as recreational areas by councils during special events, such as feasts. What would happen then? Would councils be allowed to use these spaces? Would they have to pay for them?” he asked.