Over the past years, the residents of Sliema have suffered in silence without protesting publicly against the central administration for being subjected to such harsh treatment.
When the new Labour administration took over in March 2013, the Sliema local council tried its utmost to level up the quality of life in this locality. Unfortunately, it has not only been given the cold shoulder, especially by the Transport Ministry and Transport Malta, but by a Cabinet decision, the much-awaited residential parking scheme was suspended because of industrial action ordered by the Malta Union of Teachers.
The reason given was that its members who worked in Sliema could not park their cars and continue with their work! As if schools exist only in Sliema. Just to give an example, in Floriana, where such a scheme exists, in front of the primary school, in the same street, there is restricted time parking for non residents, but not in Sliema.
After the suspension of the scheme, the local council, quite rightly, challenged this decision because what it did was according to Legal Notice 200/2009, issued by the previous administration so that local councils could implement residential parking in their respective locality. Instead of trying to work out a solution with the local council on this matter, the ministers of transport and tourism issued Legal Notice 157/2013 whereby they cancelled, for Sliema only, the residential parking scheme.
This was a notorious act of discrimination against the Sliema residents and, to date, the Transport Minister is still studying and preparing with Transport Malta new and efficient policies regarding traffic in general. Meanwhile, the residential parking schemes in other localities remain in force.
Naturally, the result for the Sliema residents is a lose-lose situation: when they travel to other localities, they are restricted, as non residents, to park because of such schemes in favour of the residents there and when they go back to Sliema they cannot find where to park because all streets are packed with cars of non residents who can park without difficulty and as long as they wish because in Sliema there is no residential parking scheme. Is this fair for Sliema residents? Still, the Transport Minister keeps studying new traffic policies...
Residential parking schemes should be allowed in all localities and if the central government does not approve of them they should be stopped everywhere. Thus, residents and non residents will be on an equal footing and nobody will feel being a victim of discrimination.
Sliema residents have often been subjected, for the sake of progress and development, to sheer arrogance by the mighty developers and contractors who think they can be above the law and do whatever they want. They drive their enormous heavy vehicles in the wrong direction, they close entire streets without a traffic warden in sight to regularise the flow of traffic, they use chasers on façades without the appropriate covering, creating small ‘sand deserts’.
Sliema residents have often been subjected to sheer arrogance by the mighty developers and contractors
Not to mention the fact that people working on such construction sites do not adhere to health and safety regulations and carry out their work without the necessary protective equipment. In one instance, I recall work in progress on four construction sites simultaneously within a radius of not more than 100 metres. Yet, nobody seems to care about the rights of residents.
Obviously, as a result of all this dynamic activity and all the heavy construction vehicles going to and fro, the streets of Sliema are in a catastrophic state, full of holes and cracks that constitute a danger to the many drivers who use them.
In an article in the latest issue of the magazine Sliema, councillor Paul Radmilli rightly points out that both the central government and Transport Malta should immediately redefine which are the arterial and distributor roads and allocate sufficient funds for them to be resurfaced or reconstructed, otherwise, these roads will remain in their present shameful state.
When Bisazza Street became a pedestrian zone, the traffic heading to Valletta was redirected via Għar id-Dud to Qui-Si-Sana, through Tignè tunnel and the Strand.
Transport Malta has designated one of two lanes at the Strand as a bus lane. This simply does not make sense because the huge volume of traffic going through the Strand cannot be channelled to just one lane.
The same situation prevailed on the main road leading from Mrieħel (near Oxford House) to Fleur-de-Lys roundabout but this has long been rectified and traffic passes through both lanes. So why not have the same arrangement at the Strand?
The above points demonstrate clearly what the Sliema residents have been going through over the years. Isn’t it about time that the central government takes concrete action to raise the quality of life in this once lovely town, which has been transformed into one big construction site?