Public to be consulted over Kappara changes

Public consultation on the controversial reconstruction of the busy Kappara roundabout would be reopened, Transport Malta said.

The report on the project would eventually be submitted to the planning authority

The Government commissioned the transport watchdog to draw up a report on the project, which would eventually be submitted to the planning authority, Transport Minister Joe Mizzi said in reply to a parliamentary question.

The report would include the layout proposed by Transport Malta, also referred to as Option B, which was being discussed with the planning authority.

There would also be further public consultation on the issue, a spokesman for Transport Malta said.

The controversial junction upgrade had been criticised by the planning authority’s environment unit. It slammed Option B as it “cannot be considered favourably from an environmental point of view”. It had suggested that the transport authority go for Option A, its earlier plan.

Option A incorporates a second roundabout, with an overpass and slip roads to allow traffic to interchange between Sliema Road and Mikiel Anton Vassalli Road.

The second option eliminated the congested Kappara roundabout and replaced it with a more free-flowing route that would include a new roundabout on the Gżira side of Sliema Road, a signal junction on the San Ġwann side and a bridge over the valley.

The unit admitted both options would have “significant major impacts” on Wied Għollieqa’s ecological area. Option A would impact a smaller area but affect a higher percentage of the level 1 area of ecological importance.

Option B would have a more significant impact on the valley’s integrity, ecology and landscape and further encroach on “an important green open gap that has survived urbanisation”.

The second option would “have a more extensive and overall more significant impact on the valley’s ecology as a whole”.

A group of Kappara residents have, in the meantime, drawn up a third proposal, which, they say, has no visual impact and does not trample on the valley like the two previous options.