Parking around Castille Square in Valletta has become next to impossible, as government entities have reserved nearly 50 bays, leaving just a handful of spaces up for grabs for the public.
These concessions are in place even though the Office of the Prime Minister and other State entities were given alternative parking last year in the inner part of the City Gate Ditch, following the project that pedestrianised Castille Square.
Though an OPM spokesman insisted with the Times of Malta that the number of reserved parking bays had not been increased, motorists and former OPM staff who spoke with this newspaper thought otherwise.
“Space in this landmark square has always been at a premium, but the situation became much worse following the embellishment project, as the surroundings have been flooded with reserved parking signs,” a motorist said.
This newspaper also spoke with retired and former government officials, who pointed out that until recently only the very top civil servants and aides were granted such a privilege.
An exercise carried out by this newspaper revealed the existence of 11 OPM reserved parking spaces near the Central Bank and a further 35 spots scattered around the square, which are all out of bounds for the public.
The latter are also being used both by the OPM staff and government vehicles.
Contacted by the Times of Malta, Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli expressed his surprise at these arrangements.
Space in this landmark square has always been at a premium, but the situation became much worse following the embellishment project, as the surroundings have been flooded with reserved parking signs
“We were told that the OPM reserved spaces in the Castille Square area would go down to the ditch once the embellishment project was completed,” Dr Dingli said.
Asked if the council was being circumvented by the authorities, Dr Dingli pointed out that the same procedure that was in force a few years ago was still in place. By law, local councils are to be “consulted” prior to the competent authority making any changes in traffic schemes directly affecting the locality.
On his part, an OPM spokesman insisted that there had been “absolutely no change” from pre-March 2013 – when Labour was elected to government – in the number of parking permits given to government officials at Castille Square and the amount of available public parking spaces.
While noting that the embellishment project resulted in better traffic management, he said that a number of reserved places previously situated in front of the Malta Stock Exchange and the Department of Information had been shifted to other zones, “previously unused for public parking”.
These included the City Gate Ditch, which was turned from an abandoned site into a parking place serving various government officials and public entities like the National Statistics Office and the Trade Department.
Though the spokesman pointed out that all reserved spaces were accessible to the public after office hours and during weekends, motorists might still be reluctant to use them, as this is not specified on the reserved parking signs.
While refuting the accusations that the government had capriciously allocated reserved spaces to its public officials, the spokesman took a dig at the last PN administration.
After facing a no-confidence vote, former EU Ambassador Richard Cachia Caruana was awarded a reserved parking space as part of his position-of-trust appointment by former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, he said.
Meanwhile, questions sent to Transport Malta had not been answered by the time of writing.
Where have the parking slots gone?
An exercise carried out by this newspaper revealed 13 reserved spaces around the monument dedicated to former Prime Minister George Borg Olivier. A further 11 spaces are reserved on the other side of the square near the City Gate steps, this time marked explicitly “OPM”.
The few remaining spaces available are taken up by other government entities, who secured 11 other spots in front of the Central Bank parking facility, and a further seven spaces in the upper part of Triq Ġirolamo Cassar. It also transpires that the four additional spots are reserved for the Foreign Affairs and Health Ministries, which are both located in Merchants Street.
Sources said that these four bays are at times left empty, with the government vehicles seen parked outside their respective ministries.
In addition, the OPM staff have been allocated between 20 and 30 spaces in the inner part of the City Gate Ditch, with the remaining 100 bays being used exclusively by other ministries and State entities. However, this part of the ditch is not accessible to the public outside of working hours.
Motorists who spoke with this newspaper vented their frustration that the increase in reserved government parking spaces had made the acute traffic situation in the capital even worse.
“To add insult to injury, the few available spaces left in the Central Bank car park are reserved for MPs when parliament is in session, making it virtually impossible to park in this part of Valletta,” an irate motorist told this newspaper.