“Traffic Minister” Chris Bonett wants to reduce 200 licences per year for five years, when as many new licences increase in our country in just one single week, the Nationalist Party said Thursday.
According to a reply given by the Transport Minister, labelled “Traffic Minister” by the PN, to Parliamentary Question 32119 made by Shadow Minister for Youth and Local Government Bernice Bonello, in 2024 around 9,000 new licences were issued in our country, almost 60% of which belong to foreign nationals. This is the result of the Labour economic plan based on population growth.
While through Chris Bonett’s scheme we would be removing around 1,000 cars belonging to Maltese residents from our roads over five years at a cost of €25 million, at the same time around 45,000 new cars will be added to our roads, almost half of which belong to foreign nationals. Over the last five years, just over 21,000 Maltese obtained a new licence compared to more than 19,000 foreign nationals.
Bonett’s scheme is nothing more than window dressing and certainly not the solution to the traffic problem in our country, the PN said.
Had the government chosen its economic model more wisely, we wouldn’t have the traffic we have today. And had it first set up a mass transport system that actually works, young people would have had an alternative that makes it easier for them to give up their licence.
Without a serious alternative, schemes like these are nothing more than a means of alienating the public without effectively solving the problems.