Bidders mulling 10km monorail for Valletta transport project

A request for proposals from Projects Malta for the design, build and operation of ‘alternative transport links’ within the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett areas has been met with an ambitious suggestion for a monorail system.

The project was mulled in clarifications requested by an unidentified bidder from Projects Malta, which facilitates public-private partnerships on behalf of the government.

It is also the first hint at a private effort towards proposing the monorail, a project that since 2013 has been mooted by the Labour administration as an example of the “modal shift” in public transportation needed to reduce car traffic congestion.

According to the monorail proposal, the unidentified party asked Projects Malta whether it would consider a land-based, elevated two-directional eight-seater monobeam “rapid transit system” extending over 10km with a journey time of 10 minutes.

Projects Malta said it would consider all proposals, including the monorail, as long as all criteria set out in the request for proposals (RFP) are met.

In fact, the RFP, issued on 28 August, had its deadline extended from 30 October to the 20 November after requests by the proponents to submit the detailed designs for the transport system which must also outline transit and landing points, heritage buildings above or underground, any underground tunnels, and data on patronage levels.

But the proponents are also suggesting that they will present drawings of underground services, as well as presenting an extended version of the monorail going as far as Malta International Airport, and also stopping at the University of Malta and either Tigné Point or the Balluta area in St Julian’s.

Projects Malta has told proponents that no public subsidies or subventions will be provided and all proposals are expected to ensure their sustainability through their own internally generated income.

The concession would be limited by any restrictions from the service contract between Transport Malta and the Marsamxetto Steamferry Services, which operate a ferry service in the Grand Harbour: the latter company is owned by the Bianchi and Zammit Tabona groups, top names in the tourism and transportation business.

Additionally, the concession could include a 65-year emphyteusis of any immovable property forming part of the proposal.

€1.42 billion funding proposal

Malta submitted a list of potential projects for the European Investment Initiative, which included the construction of a monorail project involving over-ground and underground lines.

The estimated cost was of €1.42 billion, according to a Maltese task force led by Alfred Mifsud, now deputy governor of the Central Bank.

Malta told the EC that the monorail would be the “ultimate solution” for urban mobility. “This will bring a cataclysmic change to the daily commute, making public transport the preferred means of urban transport, generating efficiency and economic growth as people will spend less time wasted in traffic congestions.” 

According to estimates from Transport Malta, a 79-km service was tagged at €1.42 billion.

Malta is the country with the highest population density in the EU, with a population density average of 1,325 persons per sq. km. compared to the EU average 117 persons per sq. km. In the northern harbour area density shoots up to 5,015 persons per sq. km.

According to data collated by Transport Malta, the annual average daily traffic between Sliema and Ta’ Xbiex alone is of 10,400 passenger car units – where one private car is equivalent to one unit, and one heavy vehicle is equivalent to two units.