CC COVER STORY In Romania, we see successful sustainable mobility campaigns for students and teachers such as ‘I walk to school’. This has impacted citizens’ lives and has become part of the city’s sustainable energy action plan, drastically reducing carbon emissions.” Deliberating on whether Malta can build on similar examples, the Malta Business Bureau CEO considers that while building cycle super highways may be a longshot for Malta, car free town centres might be a solution worth exploring. “We can look towards Oslo in Norway, now the electric vehicle capital of the world. Oslo is fully committed to eliminating pollution and CO2 emissions with a goal of becoming a climate neutral city by the year 2050. Such goal has transformed Oslo into the city with the highest number of electrical vehicles per capita in the world. This was made possible by forming a strategic alliance between the government, academia and the private sector who collaborated to design and manage the electrical vehicle programme at national level. If we can extract these best practices and customise them to accommodate the situation in Malta, there is a greater possibility of success in solving the current issue,” he affirms. Last year, Transport Malta released its National Transport Strategy 2050 and Transport Masterplan 2025, which have been approved by the European Commission. Speaking of these documents, the Transport Minister explains that the study took a snapshot of the situation in Malta and developed a model that will help Government make the right decisions in transport planning. “The Master Plan lists a series of infrastructure interventions that will be implemented over the coming years. It presents a robust strategy to improve roads, build new ones and give incentives for people to use public transport. It also sets out to prioritise transport infrastructure investment, focusing on the removal of the most critical traffic bottlenecks on Malta’s strategic TEN-T network, where national, EU
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and private funding could be most effectively targeted over the next 10 years,” he explains. Meanwhile, Minister Mizzi continues, “a significant portion of the Transport Master Plan tackles sustainable mobility, for which a comprehensive list of measures has been identified with the aim to encourage greater use of alternative, more sustainable modes of transport (buses, cycling and walking) instead of the private car. The document outlines a detailed plan to ensure a sustainable transport system for the coming years.” Through this document, he affirms, Government will be looking at solutions intended to reduce travel time between localities, traffic congestions and vehicle emissions, and to promote punctuality and increase accessibility for public transport in a way that is considered an adequate alternative to the private vehicle, as well as to increase road safety. “The plan identifies a number of concrete proposals which need to be implemented in the short-term, other measures which need to be implemented in the medium-term and long-term proposals which address all the different modes of transport and their intermodality in respect of air, land and sea modes. The document outlines 29 different major interventions to promote cycling and other similar initiatives, investment in port facilities and other long-term studies such as the permanent link between Malta and Gozo,” he continues. Meanwhile, at an EU conference last March, Minister Mizzi also maintained that Government will be studying the option of introducing urban rail systems in the near future, explaining that, unlike larger countries, Malta does do not have the luxury or space to build new road bypasses to alleviate traffic bottlenecks. Referring to Government’s plan to better manage travel demand and bring about a modal shift from cars to public transport, he says, “the introduction of urban rail systems could, quite conceivably, be the next stage in this modal shift policy.”
“The congestion is taking its toll on the cost-effectiveness of many businesses’ operations.” Kevin J. Borg, Director General, Malta Chamber
Speaking of the Transport Strategy and Transport Masterplan, the Malta Chamber Director General posits that while the Chamber welcomes the plan, it enquires on how the vast majority of the proposed measures and projects will be financed. “The Chamber believes that the financing of transport projects should include further involvement of the private sector through PPPs or joint ventures. The Chamber also recommended that Government invests part of the proceeds of the new ‘sovereign’ fund created through the Malta Citizenship by Investment (IIP) scheme in transport infrastructure to alleviate the cost of traffic on the productive sectors,” he says, adding, “the Chamber also proposes that further studies be done in order to assess how to expand the current and new systems of Mass Rapid Transit, moving commuters away from their personal vehicles and onto public transport. The Chamber believes that Government should incentivise the use of alternative modes of transport such as cycling and electric vehicles further, which would help reduce transport’s impact on the environment.” Making reference to Malta’s EU Presidency, Malta Business Bureau CEO Joe Tanti attests that in tackling its traffic situation, Malta has another opportunity to show Europe that best practice examples may also be taken out of small states like ours. “With a population of 435,000, just over that of Malta’s, Tallinn in Estonia has managed to develop a unique strategy to defeat urban traffic congestion. APRIL / MAY 2017