Breaking: San Ġwann Main Road To Become Open Space, With Underground Tunnel For Passing Traffic
San Ġwann’s main road, Vjal ir-Rijan, will soon be partially converted into a large open space and an underground tunnel will be built for passing traffic.
Steve Ellul, CEO of a new government agency called Project Green, announced this project – which was part of the PL’s election manifesto – this morning.
“San Ġwann will be getting 6,500 square metres of green open space in place of what is currently its most urbanised and traffic-heavy area, while an underpass will be created in Vjal ir-Rihan for traffic to pass through,” he said.
While Ellul didn’t clarify where the new open end will start and end from, he confirmed it will be attached to the Karin Grech Garden in the centre of the town. He also confirmed that an underground car park will be built to compensate for the parking spaces that will be lost through this project.
This is expected to be one of the first major projects undertaken by Project Green, which was set up to implement and oversee the €700 million investment in green spaces that was one of the PL’s major promises in its manifesto last year.
The second major project will be the creation of a garden on a stretch of land behind the American University of Malta in Cospicua that is currently being used as a car park. A multi-storey underground car park with space for over 180 cars will be built in the area.
Environment Minister Miriam Dalli
Environment Minister Miriam Dalli said Project Green will focus on quality, collaboration and sustainability and will work on everything from pocket gardens to major projects.
Dalli said the plan is for the new gardens to have “less concrete and more plants”, ideally with indigenous species, and for them to be accessible and self-sustainable.
Crucially, she pledged that Project Green will monitor and carry out maintenance works on the projects once they have been completed and that stakeholders, particularly residents, will be consulted.
The ultimate plan is for there to be so many green open spaces that everyone will be able to access one on foot within ten minutes no matter where they are in the country.
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