Transport Malta should assume responsibility for its decisions about Mellieha traffic diversions and not have Mellieha council shoulder all the blame for the traffic chaos in the locality, Mayor Robert Cutajar said this afternoon.

He made his comments at a  press conference today, flanked by councillors from both parties, - days after traffic along George Borg Olivier Street in the heart of the village reverted to a two way system. Earlier in the month, traffic from Ghadira had been diverted towards Popeye Village. The decision had been taken to ease the impact of increased traffic caused by the closure of the Mellieha By-pass, which is being rebuilt. 

Mr Cutajar said that although everyone was blaming the council for what was taking place, ultimate responsibility for the decisions taken by agreement between the authority, the council, the GRTU and the MHRA, was Transport Malta's.

He pointed out that claims that the Mellieha community was being favoured with regard to diversions for Mellieha residents were unfair as there were other localities in Malta and Gozo which had residential parking for their residents.

On the Bypass project, he said that the contractor had agreed to increase the number of workers deployed on the project so that one lane could be reopened in three weeks' time, rather than in six weeks, as originally planned.

Mr Cutajar insisted that Mellieha Council was against removing parking from Borg Olivier Street. The street, he said, was at the heart of  Mellieha's business community. New limits on timed parking had already been introduced, he said, and he hoped that nobody would impose detrimental decisions on the community.

(The Transport Ministry last week warned that parking would be removed if it was found to be obstructing traffic flow.)

Mr Cutajar said that two Transport Malta enforcement officers were being deployed at either end of Borg Olivier Street to  coordinate traffic. The council was also paying for a roaming warden seven hours a day.