Underground car-park proposed at the Ferries

Plans are in full swing for the construction of an underground car park containing more than 180 parking spaces at the Ferries in Sliema.

On October 13, the Malta Environment Planning Authority validated the application which it has been vetting for the past year. Plans for the project were first submitted to MEPA in November 2012.

According to the ministry's application the target date for the completion of the project is set for April 2013. This would probably mean that the project will not be completed before the next election.

The proposal will include removal of existing parking landscape areas, excavation works, construction of underground car park and an overlying landscaped deck area. The parking lot will be located below a landscaped garden which will be dominated by a steel superstructure feature held by steel cables-mimicking a sailing ship - as well as a 20-square-metre kiosk. This will replace the existing parking and landscaped area.

The project will also include two monuments - one for the Sliema's war dead, and one for Sliema football legend Tony Nicholl.

The application comes in the wake of the loss of 62 parking spaces from the Tigné area after buses had to be re-routed through the MIDI tunnel following the full pedestrianisation of Bisazza Street. Plans for a €2.3 million land reclamation project announced in February 2006 have also been aborted.

In July, Minister George Pullicino replied that while the ministry is working on proposals to embellish the Tigné promenade, this project does not contemplate any widening of the existing coast.