Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1210395
13.02.2020 9 EDITORIAL BusinessToday is published every Thursday. The newspaper is a MediaToday publication and is distributed to all leading stationers, business and financial institutions and banks. MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EDITOR: PAUL COCKS CONTRIBUTING JOURNALIST: MASSIMO COSTA BusinessToday, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016, Malta Newsroom email: bt@mediatoday.com.mt Advertising: afarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Telephone: 00356 21 382741 W orks on the Central Link project can get underway aer the courts yesterday rejected an appeal filed by concerned residents and environmental groups. Transport Minister Ian Borg wel- comed the decision, insisting it "fills us with courage to continue invest- ing in infrastructure". Like the government, business too breathed a sigh of relief at the news. For the weak transport and infra- structure network is repeatedly at the top of local businesses' concerns. Be it service-oriented or a goods provider, every business depends on the transport network function- ing at an optimum level, even if just for the sake of staff making it to the workplace on time. Of course, for good merchants, it is much more of a problem, relying on timely delivery of stock and mer- chandise. Government has over the past few years embarked on an ambitious road network overhaul. New roads are being planned, major junctions are being redesigned to eliminate roundabouts and traffic lights, and roads are being widened. More bottlenecks have to straight- ened out to ensure a smooth-run- ning, uniform road network throughout Malta. e same should hold for Gozo, where a significant investment is required in the road infrastructure after years of aban- donment. e overhaul is more than wel- come. It has been decades since Malta last saw such a massive in- vestment in road network improve- ments. e last big changes that occurred happened in the 1990s when the Santa Venera tunnels, the Regional Road tunnels below the skate park, and the Mrieħel bypass were built. And even here, the level of invest- ment and the extent of it pale into insignificance when compared to the current situation. e current infrastructural works will make travelling safer, faster and help reduce congestion. But alone they will not be enough. e number of cars being added to the road network is impressive. Malta added 73 vehicles per day to its road network between July and September, figures released by the National Statistics Office last month have shown. At this rate, congestion is likely to return to key areas unless other measures are adopted to encour- age people to abandon their private cars. One measure that could help delay the problem is raising the driv- ing age to 21, which can also prompt a generational change in attitude to- wards the car. is is not to say that the invest- ment in the road infrastructure is not needed. Even if car importation were to hypothetically stop imme- diately, the road network still needs the current level of investment to be upgraded and have bottlenecks eliminated once and for all. Doing nothing to improve the network is not an option. But forward planning is required to start thinking of developing a mass transport system that can op- erate both above ground and under- ground. In this way, the public transport system can connect to a mass trans- port system, giving people different options to travel around the island. ere are examples of small under- ground systems operating in cities abroad of comparable size to Malta, which can serve as blueprints. e same fervour that underpins the current infrastructure spending should be injected into a compre- hensive plan to have a workable un- derground system up and running in the next 15 years. A welcome investment in road infrastructure