Roads in the St George’s Bay area can hardly cope with existing demand let alone when high-rise buildings appear on the skyline, the Pembroke mayor said.

Dean Hili said the existing road infrastructure was inadequate, with all cars exiting Paceville having only one road out of the locality, leading to tailbacks on the roundabout outside the Hilton.

With at least seven high-rise buildings being planned for the St George’s Bay and Paceville areas, Dr Hili was reflecting concerns raised by residents over the impact of these projects on the infrastructure of neighbouring localities.

Although Pembroke will only just escape the high-rise sprawl, the locality will not be immune to traffic congestion and the pressure the towers will put on other basic services like the sewage system.

“The roads in the area are not sufficient to meet demand in the summer months and on weekends, let alone when these projects get off the ground. The council is not against development but it is better if a holistic approach is adopted to avoid problems to the community,” Dr Hili said.

Over the past few days this newspaper was inundated with concerns from residents after it mapped out the different tower blocks planned for the St Julian’s-Sliema area.

The projects proposed by different developers include luxury apartments, retail and commercial outlets and top-end hotels. They promise to radically change the landscape of the area and turn it into a high-rise district. Apart from environmental considerations, many residents are worried about the negative impact these mega-developments would have on the already creaking infrastructure and their quality of life.

St Julian’s mayor Guido Dalli said the council expected a proper assessment of the impact on the road infrastructure and all other amenities before any of the projects went ahead.

“The council insists that infrastructural works of any kind should be undertaken by the central government or included as a condition with the development permits and not imposed as a financial burden on the council that already has a limited budget,” Mr Dalli said.

The map showing towers attracted different views online with Malcolm Mifsud calling it “Gotham City in the making”.

Darren Bugeja was more optimistic, agreeing with the towers as long as they were built in specific areas, had a “nice design” and did not occupy all the footprint of the project.

But independent MP Marlene Farrugia reiterated on her Facebook wall a call for the drawing up of a masterplan to cater for high-rise buildings.

She called for an end to the “massacre of Sliema and St Julian’s” and urged people to unite against what she described as a “bulldozing government”.

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