It is repulsive to hear that our Environment Minister, none other, was quoted as saying that the uprooting of trees is “necessary to prevent the country coming to a standstill”, (‘Uprooting trees ‘a must’ to prevent congestion’, the Times of Malta, July 3).
It seems as though our environment and transport ministers are stuck in a 1950s time warp where motor car transport reigned supreme to the exclusion of all else. Now that the number of cars on our roads has increased astronomically, so, in his wisdom, our Transport Minister thinks we have to match this with more road space. And, even when this involves the destruction of so many trees to make way for traffic, our Environment Minister agrees. Hundreds of trees have already been destroyed and more are probably under the axe on one of our most scenic and iconic roads, the Rabat Road.
Have these ministers ever heard of something called ‘public transport’? Are these ministers aware that widening roads, adding new roads and more traffic lanes, and increasing parking space simply induces more people to use their private cars? Are they aware that doing so will not decrease congestion, but merely increase the scale of congestion and pollution?
Most of Malta is starting to resemble a large city as it gets more densely built up. The seismic orgy of building yet more apartment blocks for quick bucks is set to continue beyond the point of sustainability. Building more roads while ignoring public transport and other mobility options is total insanity. No matter how much more road space is provided or how many trees are felled to make way for traffic, car drivers will ultimately no longer be able to rely on their cars because traffic congestion will simply continue to grow exponentially in proportion to new road space provided for private car use.
This can only be reduced by providing efficient reliable public transport and encouraging other mobility options. The private car cannot remain the default mobility option.
The original (consultation) Budget Document 2018 ‘Upgrading Malta’s Infrastructure’, which mentions an investment of €700 million for road improvement, is disproportionately in favour of private car transport and does not mention the provision of an efficient public transport system or the creation of road conditions that encourage what is now referred to as ‘active transport’ such as using public transport, walking or bicycle commuting.
Nearly three decades ago the Royal Institute of British Architects (‘Breaking the Transport Deadlock’, 1991) had already called for investment in all modes and saw balance as important: “There are no circumstances in which a single policy initiative can solve an existing traffic problem. Above all, it is in urban areas that a balance of policy is required, taking account not only of the needs of the motorist, but of a significant proportion of the population who will never drive. The Institute believes that road building is not in itself a solution to the urban transport problem. It can aggravate rather than ease congestion unless it is linked to stringent measures to prevent the generation of additional traffic.”
The approval of wholesale felling of trees by an Environment Minister to further favour private car transport while omitting other transport options is nothing short of misguided, environmentally counter-productive, bad for our health (especially that of our children) and plain obscene.