ADPD has said that pollution on the Maltese Islands is the result of “years of neglect and inaction by visionless, incompetent governments, which now necessitates drastic action.”

The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) and the Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning are currently preparing an air quality plan in accordance with the Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC).

The aim of this directive is to improve air quality for all citizens and residents of the European Union’s member states.

It notes that the directive and the relevant Maltese regulations (S.L. 549.59), set limit values for a number of air pollutants, including particulate matter (PM10).

ADPD Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo, in a statement has said, “for years on end Maltese governments have avoided taking action were science shows it matters most. Science tells us that locations which experience high volumes of traffic suffer from poorer air quality.”

He pointed out that ERA’s own data shows that Msida exceeds the permissible limits of dangerous particles (PM10) in the air. Government’s own data also shows that the priority areas to tackle dangerous pollution from traffic are Pietà, and parts of Floriana, Msida, Marsa, Hamrun, Qormi, Luqa and Paola.

Cacopardo stated that, “residents and those who work in these localities are exposed to dangerous levels of pollution regularly.”

ADPD Secretary General Ralph Cassar expressed the party’s hope that new plans are actually effective.

“While it has been declared that the plan ‘will mainly focus on the transport sector and target pollutants driven by road transport activities,’ we hope that the plan is effective, grabs the proverbial bull by the horns and ends once and for all the government’s penchant to ignore its own plans- a case in point being government’s failure to implement the most important parts of the Transport Master Plan which would have gone some way in reducing transport related pollution,” he said.

Cassar went on to say that “the Nationalist government prior to 2013, bragged about increasing car use and Gonzi’s cabinet had flatly refused to implement a low emission zone in Msida proposed by the country’s environment authority.”

“Muscat’s Labour government repeatedly bragged that it did not want to control pollution from transport, and Ian Borg is implementing the old and stale transport policies of the past, aided and abetted by Infrastructure Malta bulldozer-engineer Frederick Azzopardi – who seems to be unaware of sustainable, modern and ethical engineering practices,” he stated.

Cassar concluded by saying that, “Ian Borg and Frederick Azzopardi are irresponsibly perpetuating the problem highlighted in the government’s own Transport Masterplan 2025, which states that road design in Malta is generally car-oriented and is characterised by the overall lack of space provided for all other modes of transport. This history of incompetence, and transactional clientalist politics means that drastic and focused action is needed immediately.”

ERA and the Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning are calling for feedback or comments on the intent and objectives of this plan and also on which practical measures could be implemented.

The measures needed are well known and ADPD said that it has “consistently been making proposals on the issue of transport and air quality. The problem is that the big-tent catch all parties are not interested in the policies needed to make a quantum leap forward. They are only interested in running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, literally.”

It stressed that “the Government, if it is serious, should consider a wide variety of options which are already tried and tested in countries with more educated and serious parties and governments. If the plan is to reach is objectives traffic should be drastically reduced from congested and polluted areas in Pietà, Floriana, Msida, Marsa, Hamrun, Qormi, Luqa and Paola.”

ADPD explained that this can be done by pedestrianisation, dedicated bus corridors, and a Bus Rapid Transit system, and even, eventually tram corridors. Whole areas, such as the high streets in Floriana, Msida, Hamrun, and Paola, could be redesigned to allow public transport vehicles and alternative means of personal mobility only through.

“The already weak Valletta vehicle access system, dismantled and rendered useless by visionless Labour, could be strengthened and introduced in congested and polluted localities. Low Emission Zones (LEZs) and Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZs) in which the most polluting vehicles are banned, could also be introduced – a measure already mentioned (and ignored by government) in the Transport Masterplan 2025,” the Party said.

Additionally, proper and safe routes for bicycles, pedelecs and other zero emission personal transporters are sorely needed. These measures are doable, since as the Transport Masterplan 2025 itself states, journey length in the country is on average only 5.5km, it said.

ADPD stated that, “the truth is that both the Labour and the Nationalist Parties are bereft of any ideological and principled commitments to taking the bull by the horns, and prefer to engage in politicking about the price of polluting fossil fuels, white elephant Gozo tunnel, pie-in-the-sky metros, and kilometres of useless roads built.”

“ADPD, on the other hand, will continue to insist on targeted, focused and effective measures to improve everyone’s quality of life,” it said.

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