One of the biggest problems in St Paul's Bay and its surroundings is that in winter it's a pleasant and quiet place to live in, but it's a completely different story in summer, when huge amounts of people invade the village.

Furthermore, there are the boat owners who come to St Paul's Bay, especially at weekends. This creates a huge parking problem, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that you end up wasting a half an hour trying to find a parking space, apart from having to walk another 10 minutes to get to your house.

The council never seemed to have addressed the problem, although I understand its budget is very limited. Transport Malta never did anything either. To add insult to injury, the Malta Maritime Authority (MMA) has proposed a temporary marina for the Xemxija area, which will increase boat capacity in the bay, thus increasing the numbers of cars.

To be fair, this will lead to the boat moorings becoming more organised, which is necessary, but what about the increase in traffic and parking? Did MMA even consider this problem? Now that we have the new Transport Malta, can they coordinate such issues and think about the traffic problems before issuing such tenders?

The contractor, rightly so, was forced by the transport authority to repair part of the St Paul's Bay bypass, after it was damaged due to excavation works in a building site just beneath this same road in Xemxija. I'm assuming the contractor spent huge amounts of money on doing this repair work, but it was their fault, and so be it.

In order to make the road safe enough, the contractor built a retaining structure that resembles large pigeon holes. When one looks at these large square structures from up close, it is evident they resemble car spaces or garages.

I'm not sure what's happening, but after building this structure to fix the road, works seem to have stopped; they have been like that for quite a while now. I think the contractors must be out of their mind to leave them as they are, especially since by selling them or renting them, one will be helping to solve the massive parking problem in the area.

I urge the contractor or the authorities to check if it is possible to use these spaces as garages or parking spaces. It would indeed bring much relief to the residents of the area.