WATCH: Proposed Metro Link To Gozo ‘Not A Viable Alternative’ To Tunnel Plans, Says Ian Borg
Transport Minister Ian Borg said that connecting Malta to Gozo via a metro system, as opposed to the tunnel plans currently in place, is not a “viable alternative” to the Government’s own proposals.
This comes after local architect Konrad Xuereb proposed a fully-fledged metro system for the Maltese island last year, in a bid to provide a long-term solution for Malta’s perennial traffic problems.
The Transport Minister said his predecessor Joe Mizzi and Transport Malta asked international engineering company Arup to study the proposed metro system. The company allegedly said that for a metro system linking Malta to Gozo to be viable, the sister island would need to have a population of at least 150,000, whereas it currently stands at just under 40,000.
Given the fact that increasing Gozo’s population so significantly would result in developing the island further, Borg said “that would not be the Gozo we’d want to see”, making Konrad Xuereb’s proposed system “not a viable alternative to the Government’s proposal.”
If the plans put forward by Xuereb were implemented, Malta would have seen an operational metro system made up of three different routes within 10 years – one route connecting Mellieħa to Gozo, another connecting Mellieħa to Birżebbuġa, and a final one connecting St Paul’s Bay to Malta International Airport.
His proposal, which was presented during an event organised by local environmental NGO ‘Din L-Art Ħelwa’ las September, was met with rapturous applause.
After the government issued a pre-qualification questionnaire for a Malta-Gozo car tunnel, which four bidders have qualified for, Xuereb said it is not too late to replace these plans with a metro tunnel connecting the two islands, as part of a national metro system
“For the economy and quality of life to keep on thriving in decades to come, Malta urgently needs to invest in vital mass transit infrastructural projects to accommodate mass public transport systems,” he said.
“A Malta metro that extends to Gozo ticks all the right boxes. A car tunnel to Gozo does not fit the bill. This is the most urgent decision to be taken for Malta’s future. A combination of strong leadership and long-term vision is paramount to implement such vital infrastructural mass transit projects.”