TMID Editorial: The Msida junction proposal
The proposal by the Chamber of Architects for the Msida Junction project is one that foresees the cancelling of the flyovers as envisaged in the Government’s plan, and the creation of a park filled with trees in the centre in its stead.It is a
The proposal by the Chamber of Architects for the Msida Junction project is one that foresees the cancelling of the flyovers as envisaged in the Government’s plan, and the creation of a park filled with trees in the centre in its stead.
It is a proposal that, in an ideal world, would be perfect for the area. It would create a green lung for the heavily urbanized area, a place where families can get some respite from buildings upon buildings. A space where people can breathe.
It is good to note that Infrastructure Minister, Chris Bonett, has met with the Chamber of Architects on its proposal. “The parties are to reconvene at a future date to provide IM with the time necessary for the technical development of the new project. The KTP team committed to remain available to assist with its technical expertise as needed”, the Chamber said.
Minister Bonett, prior to the meeting, had said that, “the proposal that has appeared in the media consists of one or two designs that, although visually pleasing, personally raise a number of questions for me about traffic management”, adding that it also raises a question on what freedom he has, at this stage, to vary or change the original project, and what legal and financial consequences there might be.
But how likely is it that the Government will be able to implement the Chamber’s proposal?
If the Chamber’s proposal improves traffic flow from what it is today, while creating greener spaces, then the Government should go for it. It would be a win-win.
But if the proposal does not improve traffic flow on the scale of the Government’s proposal, then the Government might not go for its implementation as is. And that is because the Government still needs to tackle a core issue. It has failed, completely, at tackling the country’s car-first culture, and has relied on the idea of road-widening and flyovers for a while.
Road widening is, at best, a temporary solution.
But the Government should at least incorporate parts of the Chamber’s proposal, especially in terms of the green park.
On a wider scale, what the Government needs to do is find a way to change the car-centric culture and improve public transport further, while also pushing alternative transport forms. Nobody is saying that it is easy to do that. It’s not. Even making public transport free has not had the major impact hoped yet, and more measures in conjunction with that are needed.
There have been interesting ideas proposed in the past, for instance by the Chamber of Commerce which had suggested the introduction of an e-mobility wallet, which could be worth testing out to see its effectiveness. If the car-centric culture on this tiny island is changed, then there would be no limit in terms of the green spaces that can be introduced.
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