A place has been earmarked in Valletta to serve as a central depot for all deliveries to the capital city. Electric vehicles will then whisk the supplies to the shops and businesses in the city throughout the day, cutting down on complaints about restricted delivery times.
It’s about time the various business groups join forces and set up one group in order to tackle Valletta’s problems
Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli, who chose not to disclose where the depot would be located, said that the local council had already bounced off the idea with a few shop owners.
“However we have not yet approached any of the business communities. That is one problem we face. The business community in Valletta is still very fragmented.
“I think it is about time the various business groups join forces and set up one group in order to tackle Valletta’s issues and problems holistically,” Dr Dingli said.
However, a Valletta Business Community Committee does exist, which brings together three of Valletta’s main business groups – the Republic Street Business Community Association, the Merchants Street Business Community Association and the Valletta Alive Foundation.
Its chairman Reginald Fava confirmed that the committee, under the auspices of The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry had in fact discussed a number of issues with the government.
However the committee has not yet been approached to discuss and give its feedback to the local council’s latest idea, Mr Fava explained.
The central depot would reduce the problems that businesses encounter with delivery trucks which can only access the pedestrian zone at dedicated times and which had been agreed upon with the GRTU when pedestrianisation was introduced years ago.
“People have to understand that pedestrianation is not a rubber band, which we can use as and when we want according to our whims and desires,” Dr Dingli argued.
The Valletta mayor said some delivery men find it difficult to cope with having to lug heavy boxes across the roads to the city centre. Dr Dingli added, however, that there were loading bays at every crossroad in the city.
Meanwhile Mr Fava added:“We have tackled the pedestrianisation of Valletta badly. We’ve put the cart before the horse. It’s a culture change and we cannot change it overnight. The main problem is a lack of parking”.
Mr Fava believes that the parking problem in the city could be easily solved. “Start with removing the coloured parking for residents. Most residents do not use the reserved parking spaces but use up the white bays. It’s important to create time-limits for those who want to park and need to pop into the capital for an errand or two.”
Mr Fava is also aware that the ring road is usually taken up by people working in Valletta who park there for long hours. “The Park and Ride facility in which the government invested heavily is practically empty. Let’s provide parking at the Park and Ride for a nominal fee, and workers will start to use it again,” he said, arguing that when the Valletta buses were decentralised business in the capital went down by at least 50 per cent.