Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar, the environment and heritage NGO, has condemned the fact that the Infrastructure Malta is proceeding with its plans to widen the road leading from Victoria, Gozo, to Marsalforn.

FAA argued that as part of the TEN-T project that has destroyed so much agricultural land at Attard, the Gozo project is also set to take up more agricultural land and uproot 180 trees, 54 of them protected species.

These trees, FAA said, that add such beauty and welcome shade on this road are described as a “safety hazard” in the Project Description Statement.

The same report, FAA said, admits that “In general, traffic congestion is not present in either traffic flow direction along the link, except for occasional congestion occurring in the initial segment of the street…. The roundabout arm of Triq Kapuccini has a narrow carriage width which causes an occasional bottleneck…”

Astrid Vella, FAA Coordinator added, “this makes it amply clear that this road widening exercise is not justified, and will destroy the rural character of one of Gozo’s most beautiful valleys, leading from Marsalforn to the Cittadella.”

She went on to say that, “we call on the new government to come up with creative solutions to provide bus bays and improve safety without sacrificing yet more countryside and trees to slice a motorway through this iconic valley.”

FAA has however welcomed Environment and Planning Minister Aaron Farrugia’s declaration that that his office will begin logging his ministry meetings with different lobbyists and stakeholders under a new Transparency Register.

It augured that this new spirit of transparency will also be adopted by the Planning Authority where, FAA said, “the disproportionate influence of the development lobby has led to the issuing of abusive permits and damaging policies that remain in force to this day.”

The first step would be to revert to showing the details of all applications as they are received and being processed, said FAA. This was the case until May 2019, when the Planning Authority took the unprecedented step to restrict public access to planning applications, giving developers a much greater chance of their applications passing undetected.

FAA pointed out that “this is in direct violation of the EU Directive on the Public Right of Access to Environmental Information (Aarhus Convention).”

The NGO also welcomed the introduction of Malta’s first electric bus, a zero emissions vehicle which is undergoing trials to assess its efficiency and suitability to Maltese route conditions.

“While this is a major step in the right direction, FAA requests Malta Public Transport to look into the option of smaller busses which would be more suited to narrow village streets and run more frequently, reducing waiting times,” it said.

FAA highlighted the fact that seeing over 40 people queueing at bus stops in January, when tourist numbers are at their lowest, does not encourage the public to use public transport.

Photo: FAA

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