A long-awaited policy regulating timed parking schemes manned by local councils seems to have been lost in oblivion, as not even the Transport Minister himself was able to say when it would be seeing the light of day. 

Announced six years ago, the policy was supposed to be based on the findings of a nationwide study which was meant to gauge the success or not of such schemes. This exercise was meant to find a compromise between resident schemes and the needs of the business community. 

The review had been announced in the midst of a controversy involving the Sliema council, which had rolled out a residents’ parking scheme on a trial basis. However, this experiment was short lived as it was lifted, through the direct intervention of Cabinet. 

Read: Sliema parking scheme has spent six years in limbo

The move came in the wake of an hour-long strike by teachers in five Sliema schools in protest against what they had deemed as a draconian scheme.

Despite, repeated calls by the Sliema council for the government to roll out this policy or give a definite reply on the matter, there were no developments. 

Last March, the matter was raised in Parliament by Opposition MP Karol Aquilina, only for Transport Minister Ian Borg to say that the study launched in 2013 was still under way. 

Times of Malta raised the matter at a news conference Dr Borg addressed about roadworks in Sliema. 

Asked if this saga was coming to a close, the Transport Minister replied there were “no developments” to report. 

Asked why the government had only halted the resident scheme in Sliema, Dr Borg insisted that all pending parking scheme requests had been put on hold, while those which had been already in place were still in force. 

When it was pointed out that such matter was of great interest as it affected thousands of residents not only in Sliema, but in the rest of the country, the minister insisted he had no other details to give.

“If you send questions I can follow up the matter, with the respective authorities,” he said.

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