Local councils call for proper consultation prior to privatisation

Labour mayors and minority leaders from Rabat, Mosta, Floriana and Valletta have issued a joint support of the Opposition's motion in parliament for the effective withdrawal of a privatisation tender for 34 public car parks.

The councillors, led by Rabat mayor Sandro Craus, said they wanted to see the tender withdrawn and not merely suspended, so as to have more consultation on the effects that privatising public car parks would have.

Craus insisted that the councils were against car parks that charged payment, especially in residential zones, or parking areas close to polyclinics such as that of Mosta, or the one by the Addolorata cemetery.

"It will create further financial burden on families and motorists will only look for parking elsewhere, exacerbating the problem of parking," Craus, who is against the privatisation of the Rabat car park outside Mdina, said.