Muscat announces St George's Bay, Paceville regeneration plan

A corporation will be set up to regenerate St George's Bay in St Julian's, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced.

Addressing a press conference in Castille ahead of Monday's Budget, Muscat warned that three planned projects around the popular bay - development at Villa Rosa, the conversion of the Corinthia and the Radisson into a six star hotel, and a third unnamed one - will create chaos if not coordinated properly.

"It's a popular location and we can't allow it to become a construction site for six years, with the three private consortiums each going its own way," he said. "The corporation will ensure synergy between the developments, and proper traffic and drainage management."

He pinpointed St George's Bay, Paceville and Bugibba as three popular touristic locations in need of an infrastructural upgrade.

"Malta is projected to welcome an annual average of two million tourists in the near future, which is no joke," he said. "If we truly want to improve our touristic product, we need an overhaul in our infrastructure for it to reach European standards, and we cannot dump all responsibility onto local councils.

The first steps will be announced in the upcoming Budget.” 

‘Underground train proposals being taken seriously’ 

When asked whether an underground train system is being taken seriously as a possible remedy to Malta’s notorious traffic problem, Muscat confirmed that the government is “seriously exploring several such proposals”.

With regards more short-term solutions, he said that a pilot ‘tidal lane’ system will be introduced in Aldo Moro Road in Marsa, whereby three of the road’s four lanes will open to south-bound traffic in the morning, with the reverse holding true in the evening.

He also reiterated his plans to improve ferry connection between Sliema, Valletta and the Three Cities.

“We want the ferry to become an obvious choice for harbour commuters, and if it picks on, it will decrease traffic substantially.”

Moreover, an ‘intelligent traffic system’ is still in the works. Through this system, cameras will monitor the island and send warning messages to drivers about which roads are traffic-heavy, hence allowing them to plan alternative routes. However, its implementation has been held up because a losing bidder has filed for a court injunction.

Deficit target of 1.6% on track

In a brief speech, finance minister Edward Scicluna said that the government is on track to reach a deficit of 1.6% of Malta’s GDP by the end of the year. This will mean that the positive difference between government expenditure and income would have decreased by €69 million when compared with the deficit registered at the end of 2014.

Toasting the financial results, Muscat argued that the current administration has managed to slash the deficit by 2% in three years, without introducing austerity measures.

Channelling former US President John F Kennedy, he said that “the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining” and that the government must now take advantage of the current economic growth to address problems related to infrastructure, pensions, education, and the working poor.