I am sure it is evident to everybody that there has been an injection of vigour into road works since the election in June. Many roundabouts and traffic islands are being remodelled, lanes widened, trees unfortunately uprooted, all to make way for better traffic flow.

It has also resulted in frayed tempers, long traffic jams and endless detours, a direct consequence of a fully saturated road system with no spare capacity. At the end of the day, one thing is very apparent, we must let king car rule.

I have to admit that the new Transport Minister, Ian Borg, has taken on his new role with admirable dynamism and application. More so when compared to the lack of direction and ideas of his predecessor. The current government’s commitment to rework our entire road system over the next seven years is, at least on paper, impressive; the undertaking to spend over €60 million per year on keeping that promise even more so.

The question must be asked, however, whether we are indeed taking the right route to solving our traffic problems.

The number of vehicles on the road is increasing at a rate of 29 per day, which translates into 10,500 per year. This is a result of a booming economy and a population increasing both naturally and due to the huge influx of foreigners coming to work in Malta. That most opt to seek their own mode of transport is not only due to the Maltese love for the automobile but also a consequence of the unreliability of our public transport system.

I am not pointing a finger at the bus service in Malta. At the end of the day buses don’t fly, they get caught up in the same traffic jams we do. Their disadvantage is that they are stuck to fixed routes; at least we can take a detour if we come across a log jam. More bus lanes, in theory, would be a solution but we do not possess enough two and three lane highways to make that feasible.

The previous transport minister had stated last January that traffic congestion is costing Malta €200 million annually in lost productivity and that this is set to worsen by 2050 if nothing radical is done to change the situation. I suggest, as things stand, that the situation will deteriorate much faster than that.

What the minister is trying to do reminds me of the legend of King Canute who thought he could stop the tide

While improving the traffic flow on our roads is laudable, the physical limitations of our tiny country and the packed nature of our urban landscape preclude us from increasing the capacity of our road system beyond a certain point. What the minister is trying to do reminds me of the legend of King Canute who thought he could stop the tide. No need to emphasise who won in the king-tide confrontation. The result will be no different between the minister and the traffic jam. All he will manage to do, despite over €400 million spent on our road system, is to delay the inevitable gridlock by a few years.

What is needed is a solution that will get the cars off the roads. What is ultimately needed is a mass transport system that is both fast and reliable and compatible with the issue of trying to preserve what is left of our environment, both rural and urban.

It is becoming increasingly imperative that the government of Malta looks into the feasibility of building a metro system with links all over the island. This must be done sooner rather than later. The study alone will take years. The more it is delayed the more likely it is that our country will eventually shudder to a bumper-to-bumper halt.

It will be expensive, but then we are already losing €200 million a year due to traffic. The EU loves this type of capital project and funding will be made available, but we have to have a realistic proposal to present when applying for those funds in the first place.

The idea of using our waterways as part of the answer to this problem and passing a tunnel under Valletta so ferries can cross from Sliema to the Three Cities directly is indeed a step in the right direction. The money earmarked for the Gozo Channel tunnel would also be better spent on fast ferries taking passengers directly from Mġarr to Valletta thereby decreasing the congestion on the roads to Mellieħa. That ferry solution would also be cheaper than the tunnel and the remaining money could also be allocated to a metro system.

We also need to give incentives to businesses so that deliveries and transfer of goods is done at night not during rush hours.

We need to think outside the box. Find ways of getting cars off the road, not encourage people to get them on it. If we don’t, the country and the economy will literally grind to a halt. As things stand we are on a road to nowhere.

Anthony Buttigieg is a candidate for the post of leader of Partit Demokratiku.