PN’s newly-released electoral manifesto has divulged more details on the party’s grand plan for a Mass Rapid Transport System, its answer to the Government’s Malta in Motion strategy… and one which it pledges to be able to pull off in a fraction of the time.
“A new Nationalist Government would achieve the biggest jump in mobility our country has ever seen,” the manifesto says. “A national system of Mass Rapid Transport, mainly underground, which would commence with its first phase on the Northern Line.”
Alongside two renders of what the system might look like – one of which seems to show a Metro Malta station near the parking area between the University of Malta and Mater Dei Hospital – the manifesto goes on to break down the numbers behind this behemoth proposal.
“The first phase includes a line of about 11.5 kilometres, eight stops and 10 operational trains,” it says. “The estimated capital investment for this phase is around €1.4 billion, with the aim of having the first service being operational within the first five years of a new government.”
The second phase, the manifesto states, is an extension of that line, alongside another line with an estimated investment of around €2.5 billion. “In total, the two lines would have a capital expense of about €3.9 billion on a number of years, and the ability to complete about 55 million trips per year.”
Going on to detail how the party plans on financing the mega-project by instantly getting into conversations such as those with European investment banks within the EU, the PN argues that “the expense of not doing anything is far bigger”.
The PN’s transport proposals go further, but most are intertwined with the Mass Rapid Transport System. For starters, the party is promising that the service would actually be free for all Maltese and Gozitan people, and would operate alongside feeder routers, mobility hubs, park & ride, coaches, taxis, shuttle services, and transport for students as well as workers.
Once again, the PN is pledging that the first operational phase of this project is done in five years, with the first implementation framework aimed to be launched within the first 100 days of its legislature.
Revealed tonight by Opposition Leader Alex Borg, the PN’s electoral manifesto tackles 16 different pillars and presents over 1,000 proposals. “We will solve other people’s mistakes,” Borg told the nation as he launched his party’s transport proposals.
What do you make of PN’s mass transport proposal details?
