Transport Malta was still awaiting the Valletta council’s traffic management plan which had to be approved before work on St Paul Street could start, chief executive Stanley Portelli said yesterday.

In a letter reacting to yesterday’s editorial taking Transport Malta to task on lack of planning in a number of road projects (see page 10), Dr Portelli said not only did the authority not approve the plan but this had not yet been submitted.

When contacted, Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli said the contractor due to the carry out the work was having talks with Transport Malta on the best raffic management solution. Concurrently, the council was holding discussions with the business community in St Paul Street to find a way of carrying out the project – which both sides insist is needed – without affecting business too harshly.

The Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU said it was told the work was expected to take 11 weeks and was planned to start between the first and second week of August. This was the information it had transmitted to businesses in St Paul Street. The council has insisted it had not yet made the details of the project public.

St Paul Street is one of only two entrances to Valletta by car and the road had become “a main artery”, especially following the closure of Pope Pius V Street, which ran above the old City Gate.

The council is standing by its decision to close one of Valletta’s two entry points in August saying it was the “quietest period of the year”.