After Mellieħa’s Congestion Chaos, Councillor And MP Blast Lack Of Planning And Communication
Motorists were surprised to find new works happening in a key road in the Manikata area heading to Mellieħa last Friday afternoon, leading to serious delays.
The thing is, it wasn’t only motorists, but Mellieħa’s politicians, who say a lack of planning, traffic management and communication from Transport Malta as well as the Water Services Corporation led to chaos in their hometown, right as the weekend was about to start.
“As a local council, we’ve been left on our own. The authorities do what they want, without consulting anyone,” Mellieħa councillor Gabriel Micallef told Lovin Malta.
Residents from his locality took to social media to blast the decision to close the road off, with images of severe congestion throughout Mellieħa hitting the internet.
Some people spent hours waiting in traffic on Friday evening.
Micallef explained that he learnt about the closure from Facebook, noting that the council had not been consulted about the project, and had been advised via email.
“The issue isn’t that work needs to be done – there needs to be a bit of traffic management and officials overseeing it all.”
PN MP Ivan Castillo echoed his sentiment, saying: “The situation has become ridiculous and completely out of control.”
“And this is not something new, we all know that when Manikata or Xemxija closes chaos ensues!” he told Lovin Malta. “This was badly planned, and Infrastructure Malta needs to take stock and responsibility for this!”
Castillo pointed out the real life effects these projects can have if forward planning isn’t done in time.
“It has a horrible impact on business – I had one restaurant owner calling me to tell me that he’s just had six cancellations in an hour from diners who were stuck in traffic, could not get to Mellieħa, and just went back home…”
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