In a surprise move, Parliament yesterday discussed an Opposition motion calling for a debate on the traffic situation and a traffic management plan, although the Minister for Transport was not present due to duties abroad.

Minister Owen Bonnici, standing in, said the recent situation was the result of road infrastructure weaknesses. Public transport was a missed opportunity by the previous administration. “It is now much better,” maintained Dr Bonnici, adding that the Opposition motion had a dearth of proposals.

Dr Marthese Portelli (PN) said that the traffic situation was leading to a decrease in competitiveness compounded by environmental and health problems. Replying to criticism that the Opposition offered no proposals, she said the transport minister repeatedly avoided public debate on the matter with students.

Proposals included increased use of bikes, teleworking, better planning of roadworks and alternative means of transport, concluded Dr Portelli.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that the debate was held at short notice since the government agreed that this was a problem and a priority. He said improving and consolidating the road infrastructure was a priority for the government. It was considering alternatives such as the monorail and underground roadways.

“There is a cost to all this and it is not just financial,” warned the Prime Minister. He described the public transport situation as “works in progress”.

Turning to personal car use, he said that some 40 new cars are released on the road daily and that by decreasing the price of petrol, and this was on the cards, the pressure on traffic would increase. Anticipating the Budget speech, he said that a public consultation exercise on transport choices will be launched to start the debate.

Leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil said that traffic became a national issue and not a perception. “Workers take one hour to reach work and one hour to return home. This is 10 hours a week, the equivalent of a whole day’s work,” he said.

Socio-economic, environmental and security impacts were compounded by the constant gridlock.

Referring to Dr Bonnici’s criticism of the Opposition over its lack of proposals, Dr Busuttil said that solutions were up to the government. While the government had not inherited a rosy situation, no one had expected this development.

“In two-and-a-half years, the government has delivered a gridlock rather than a road map,” Dr Busuttil said.