The long-awaited police station could soon be set up in the Swieqi Civic Centre, which has finally been opened one year after it was inaugurated.
Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Farrugia yesterday handed the keys to the Swieqi local council at the site’s second official opening since 2013.
The centre was first opened by then prime minister Lawrence Gonzi last February – one month before the general election – but the council was never given permission to run the complex.
Asked why there had been a 12-month delay, Dr Farrugia said the site had only recently been finished.
“The thing is that after 20 years [of PN administration] there was a rush to inaugurate something which wasn’t finished. I think this was taking the mickey out of the local council. I will open things when they are ready,” he said.
The site will soon house the council’s offices, a free medical clinic, several social services and a post office.
It will eventually host the police station – residents and council members have been calling for their own police presence to patrol the area since 2012. Swieqi forms part of the St Julian’s police precinct, which residents insist is stretched to the limit with policing nightlife mecca Paceville.
A report carried by this newspaper last year had found that police officers in St Julian’s had to deal with approximately three times as many cases of theft, vandalism and bodily harm than their colleagues in Birkirkara.
Last week a Home Affairs Ministry spokeswoman said the station had not yet been set up because the force could not spare the extra officers. However, asked if a station was being ruled out, Dr Farrugia insisted this was not the case.
“I have held meetings and been in contact with Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia on this issue. He asked me when the site would be opened so that eventually we could have a police station here,” he said.
Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat said progress had been made on the issue but more was needed.
He said an online petition and a door-to-door signature collection had been started by a group of irate residents demanding the station be given priority.
“This station is important, even more so than the civic centre.
“Residents are mounting pressure over this and I believe this locality deserves to have a number of officers dedicated to Swieqi,” he said.
Chance to vote
Local councils will be invited to nominate a representative to sit on the Malta Environment and Planning Authority board to vote on large projects affecting their locality.
The measure was announced by Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Farrugia and will form part of the upcoming Mepa reform.
Dr Farrugia said over the coming weeks he will have a consultation meeting with the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development on Mepa reform.
He said further announcements would be made during the meeting which would explain most of the plans for the authority.