Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1542865
2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 28 JANUARY 2026 NEWS Plans submitted for garden and multi-level underground parking in Gozo's capital JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt PLANS have been submitted to develop a multi-level under- ground parking facility in Rabat, Gozo, topped by a landscaped public garden. The proposal for which a planning application has been presented (PA/04986/25), forms part of broader efforts to prepare the town for its 2030 European Capital of Culture designation, according to a project description statement (PDS) authored by Mariello Spiteri's EMP consultancy. Currently, the surface car park accommodates 110 cars and eight tourist buses, with extra on-street parking along surrounding roads. Accord- ing to the new plans, the ex- isting eight dedicated spaces for heavy vehicles and private coaches will be entirely re- moved. Instead, these vehicles will use a new drop-off and pick-up point incorporated along Triq Giorgio Borg Oliv- ier. The underground facility will provide parking spaces for 259 cars and 27 motorbikes, with access from Triq 10 ta' Gunju 1887 and exit onto the new road connecting to Triq Giorgio Borg Olivier. Inter- active computerised systems will guide drivers to available spaces, while parking will be charged. The PDS links parking charg- es to "maintenance and con- stant upgrading" of the facil- ities. Metering and payment for on-road parking in the surrounding roads would "also have to be considered in order to alleviate increased pressure on street parking from patrons refusing to pay the parking charges in the multi-level car park". Above ground, the current car park will be replaced with a landscaped garden linked to Villa Rundle Gardens, forming a continuous green corridor through the town centre. In- digenous trees, including Pinus Pinea and Cupressus Semper- virens, will provide shade and help reduce local surface tem- peratures by 10–15°C, improv- ing air quality, the PDS states. Recreational facilities are pre- served through a multipurpose sports ground capable of host- ing seven-a-side football, with independent entrances, pe- rimeter fencing, lighting, and emergency vehicle access from the higher part of Triq 10 ta' Gunju 1887. Elevated walkways and ramps will connect the dif- ferent areas of the park, with zones colour-coded for clarity and circulation. The project also incorporates a 5,092 cubic metre stormwater reservoir beneath the deck to supply irrigation and fire-fight- ing systems. The site presents a geolog- ical challenge due to plastic Blue Clay beneath the surface. To address this, the project will use secant pile walls and waffle-slab flooring, ensuring structural stability while mini- mising concrete use and main- taining safety for the multi-lev- el parking and park above. The project's symbolic col- our-coding is directly reflect- ed in its physical architecture. In the Blue Zone, connecting the park to Villa Rundle Gar- dens, pedestrian bridges and crossings are accented in blue. The Yellow Zone features the pedestrian spiral and elevated walkways linking the bus ter- minus to the western part of the park. Finally, the Red Zone, comprising the sports ground and underlying parking, inte- grates its colour through red apertures and sun-screens, even though the main building facades are finished in tradi- tional Gozo stone. The primary bus terminus, which serves as the central in- terchange for public transport across Gozo, does not form part of this project. While it will remain in its current loca- tion, the project will enhance its connectivity by linking it to the new park via an elevated pedestrian bridge and a "pedes- trian spiral". Parking charges are being considered to ensure regular maintenance, while metered on-street parking is being considered to reduce pressure on surrounding streets Renderings of what the public garden onto of the multi-level underground parking facility in Rabat, Gozo will look like Malta leads EU in multi- service digital bundles MALTA continues to rank among the EU's most dig- itally integrated countries, according to a special Euro- barometer survey released recently. Focussing on e-communi- cations and the digital single market, the survey shows that Maltese households adopt bundled communi- cation services at rates well above EU averages. This sug- gests a preference for service consolidation. Some 73% of households in Malta include fixed internet access in a bundled package, compared with 43% across the EU27. Television chan- nels and fixed-line telephony are included in 71% and 61% of Maltese bundles respec- tively. Across Europe, fixed inter- net, mobile subscriptions, and television are the three most frequently bundled services, while over six in 10 Europeans subscribe to two or more services in a bundle. Malta and Portugal re- port the highest adoption of multiple-service bundles, with 36% of Maltese house- holds subscribing to more than four services and 23% to five-service packages. Six- and seven-service bundles are less common, but Mal- ta leads in these categories as well, with 8% and 6% of households respectively. Malta also shows high levels of connectivity. Some 92% of households report having an internet connection at home, exceeding the EU27 average of 85%, while mobile phone ownership is nearly universal at 98%. Fixed gigabit connec- tions are present in 67% of Maltese households, among the highest in Europe. Fixed-line telephony re- mains prevalent in Malta, with 70% of households maintaining a landline, com- pared with 41% across the EU. Only a small proportion of households in Northern and Western Europe exceed these levels.