Transport Malta, as repackaged, seems to be hellbent on displacing Mepa as the public’s bête noire parastatal authority.
In Attard, a young Transport Malta architect has most arrogantly, wantonly and nonsensically disrupted the serenity of several ordinary tax-paying residents in a number of streets. Not only has he (and his Transport Authority) ridden roughshod over unanimous recommendations by an elected municipal authority called a local council; he has actually had the gall to threaten in writing the local council with “disciplinary action” if they don’t do what he (that is, Transport Malta) now says!
Making a very narrow street such as Triq il-Gibba “no access” from one side and open to general traffic from the other, in a one-time village subjected to a galloping urbanisation, is utter nonsense. Residents in this exceptionally narrow street, dating back to the origins of Misraħ Kola, have always had difficulty manoeuvring to as much as park their cars in their respective drive-ins and garages because of limitation of space or angle. This is why it was a street where ordinary traffic was restricted to its residents, as it certainly should continue to be.
The situation is now worse and more dangerous than ever with cars from Triq is-Sienja using it just as a speedy short cut to Triq il-Pitkali and beyond, thanks to Transport Malta.
Other residents from Antonio Schembri Street have called me to protest that suddenly they have started being fined large amounts by the warden service or business in Attard for (justly) avoiding the enormous congestion in Triq il-Mosta and Ħal-Warda, near the primary school.
These residents live in the uppermost part of Antonio Schembri Street, literally a stone’s throw away from Triq il-Linja, which they had always used as an exit, the more easily to get to work in the morning. All I can say is that no such problems existed when I was mayor of Attard.
The principle that a parastatal authority dismisses and threatens elected local authorities and their role in non-arterial areas, supposedly delegated to their regulation by law, is very serious. It puts into question the whole notion of subsidiarity. This is a subject I raised at the most recent meeting of the Council of Europe’s committee of experts on local government in Strasbourg a few weeks ago.
There appears to be a creeping centralisation in the administration of public affairs to the detriment of local government not only in Malta but also elsewhere in Europe, as for example in Spain. I am sure this matter will be looked into at the next inspection of adherence or otherwise to the Charter of Local Self-Government here.
In the meantime Transport Malta may have occasion to ruminate their infallible wisdom.