PN promises 11.5km metro with 8 stations and 10 trains within 5 years in new electoral programme

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Posted By: admin May 18, 2026

PN promises 11.5km metro with 8 stations and 10 trains within 5 years in new electoral programme

The Nationalist Party has made an 11.5-kilometre metro line within five years its keynote transport pledge, as it launched and approved its electoral programme for the upcoming general election.

The manifesto was approved by the PN’s General Council on Monday night, and features over 1,000 proposals split across 16 chapters.

Many of the keynote proposals across a variety of sectors have already been announced in the run-up to the General Council, but one area which had remained unshared was the exact details on the party’s proposal for a mass transport system.

This is the party’s main transport proposal, and the electoral programme makes it clear that the PN wants more than “just promises like the Labour Party has made for the last four elections” when it comes to this topic.

The PN’s mass transport project would be separated into two phases, with the first phase being a train line running from north to south over a distance of around 11.5 kilometres.  The line would feature eight stations and ten operating trains, would cost around €1.4 billion and would be operating within the first five years of the new government.

The second phase would feature the construction of a second line and an extension to the aforementioned first line at an estimated cost of €2.5 billion.  The programme states that the overall cost of the project will be of around €3.9 billion and will be able to carry out around 55 million trips per year.

The party’s electoral programme states that the first 100 days of a PN government would see the issuing of the implementation framework, call for offers, and financing and governance for the project.

The ‘Mass Rapid Transport System’ – as the party called it – would operate mostly underground, according to the programme, and would be free for all Maltese and Gozitan citizens.

The party’s electoral programme is split into 16 sub-sections, each with a varied amount of proposals.  The sections related to the economy, health and sport, taxes, social policy, governance, tourism, and the environment, among others.

The PN’s key electoral measures are summarised below.  The party’s full electoral programme can be found here.

 

Economy

  • Look at Data, AI, and New Space as new high-value economic sectors, together with a Mediterranean Centre for Clean Maritime Fuels in Hurd’s Bank.
  • Draft and implement a new law to regulate Space Activities within the first 100 days of being elected.
  • Create a national platform for satellite connectivity and observation data within the first year of being elected.
  • Remove the LNG tanker from Marsaxlokk and, within the first 100 days of being elected, create a Hurd’s Bank Strategic Taskforce.
  • Malta Homecoming Act which will guarantee a five-year tax break to highly-skilled Maltese specialising in areas where shortages are present who return to the country.
  • Incentivise the four-day working week.

Private Sector

  • Reducing taxes for small and micro-sized companies.
  • An increase to the VAT exemption for small businesses from €35,000 to €70,000.
  • Create at least 100 new affordable industrial spaces for SMEs.
  • Create a ‘Made in Malta’ mark as a sign of quality for Maltese products and services which reach certain standards.
  • Remove SEPA payment fees and other excessive bank impositions on SMEs within the first 100 days of taking government.

Taxes

  • Reduce income tax.
  • Automatic annual adjustment of tax bands to reflect the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) so it is untaxed.
  • Complimentary tax refund of €1,200 per year.
  • Five-year tax break to youths who make less than €50,000 per year when they start working.  The five years can be taken as a tax break at any point in the first decade that the youth starts working.
  • Removal of inheritance tax and on donations of immoveable property.
  • Widen the First Time Buyers’ Scheme so Stamp Duty Exemption rises to being on a maximum of €350,000.
  • Remove taxes on the first €10,000 of income on part-time and overtime work.

Health & Sport

  • Develop a network of four hospitals: an expanded Mater Dei Hospital, a new hospital in the north of Malta, expansion of Paola Health Hub, and a new hospital in Gozo.
  • Build a new National Health Park in Selmun.
  • Cancer Treatment Guarantee: every cancer patient will be given all of their prescribed medicine for free.
  • Start a Just-In Time Command Centre to eliminate waiting lists.
  • Implement a new, modern model for mental health which integrates prevention, community care and in-patient care in a coordinated manner.
  • Increase stipends for students studying in the health care sector to be equivalent to the minimum wage.
  • Negotiate a new sectoral agreement for all health care workers within the first 100 days of being elected.
  • Establish a Ministry specifically dedicated to sports and launch a National Sport Strategy which will cater for 2026 to 2035.
  • Aim for Malta to win its first Olympic Medal in 2032.
  • Establish a National Museum of Sport.

Education

  • Create a new national school for STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics – subjects.
  • Build and open a new school every year.
  • Increase all stipends by 25% from this October.
  • Revise both Primary and Secondary school curricula to be more relevant to today.
  • Build a new sports complex at the University of Malta within two years of being elected.
  • Strengthen the professionalism of the education sector by introducing warrants and licences for educators, including LSEs and KGEs.
  • Reform School Based Assessments to be more just and consistent.

Social Policy

  • Extend maternity leave to six months, extend paternity leave to six weeks, and introduce a year of parental leave which can be split between both parents.
  • Introduce 15 days of leave specifically for when children get sick.
  • Introduce the concept of ‘Core Hours’ where there is an agree period of time for office hours, allowing workers more flexibility outside of those hours.
  • Enshrining flexible work practices, such as remote working, reduced or compacted hours and flexi-work, as a legal right.
  • Introduce a €5,000 Child Trust Fund for every child who is born.
  • Introduce new concept of social housing known as ‘Housing Associations.’
  • Increase pensions by at least €650 per year.
  • Significant reform to family law, including a child’s right to both parents, recognition of parental alienation as emotional abuse, state system of children’s maintenance, and effective enforcement of court orders.
  • New law to distinguish between small NGOs and large NGOs to reduce bureaucracy on the former.

Youths

  • Youth Pension Kick Start proposal which would see the government deposit €5,000 across five years into a private pension plan for every person under the age of 35 who chooses to open one.
  • Additional assistance equivalent to the minimum wage for students up to the age of 35 who are also parents.
  • Introduce study leave during the exam period for those who are working full-time but also studying part-time.

Transport & Planning

  • A new Mass Rapid Transport System, with the first train line being complete and operational within five years, and made available free for Maltese and Gozitans.
  • Launch a one-point-of-use multi-modal mobile application which brings together every public and private transport service in Malta.
  • Use tidal lanes, intelligent traffic lights, and digital enforcement to create priority lanes for buses and collective transport.
  • Create a hybrid remote working system in the Public Service based on the concept of 60% of work being done from the office and 40% being done from home.
  • New car licensing system which will see those who use their car less, pay less for their licence.
  • Revise every Local Plan in Malta and Gozo.

Energy & Water

  • Sustain energy subsidies and start a campaign towards renewable energy so the burden of subsidies decreases.
  • Remove the rental of electricity metres from every residence, NGO, and for the agricultural sector.
  • Reduce the cost of every residence’s electricity bill.
  • Reach the aim of 30% of Malta’s energy being renewable by 2030.
  • Invest in solar canopies above schools, parking areas, and industrial zones.
  • Open the process for the concept of Solar Rights.
  • Explore the possibility of the third and fourth interconnector, including with North Africa.
  • Implement a pilot project to incentivise methods where rain water goes directly into the water table in order to strengthen it.

Gozo

  • Increase the size of the Mgarr harbour, and start work to identify a site for a second, small alternative port in Gozo.
  • Commission two new ferry ships – one for passengers and one for merchandise – which would operate by 2029. 
  • Restart the mercantile route between Mgarr and the Grand Harbour within the first year of being elected.
  • Recognise Gozo as a region within Malta’s constitution within the first year of being elected.
  • Open a Destination Management Organisation as an independent entity for Gozo which would be responsible for implementing the island’s tourism policy.
  • Do a Carrying Capacity for both Gozo and Comino.
  • Turn Gozo into a Net-Zero Island by 2040.

Tourism

  • Shift tourism policy from “volume” to “value”.
  • Introduce a national “carrying capacity” framework.
  • Reduce VAT for restaurants from 18% to 7%.
  • Crack down on illegal short-let accommodation (Airbnb-style rentals).
  • Reposition Malta as a cultural and quality destination.

Culture

  • Create the “Malta Cultural District” in the Marsa/Grand Harbour area.
  • Give artists proper professional and legal status.
  • Major investment in arts education and creative careers.
  • Reform cultural governance with transparency and meritocracy.
  • Strengthen Malta’s film and audiovisual industry.

Environment

  • A real park for every locality.
  • Stronger powers for the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA).
  • Mandatory climate adaptation in all planning.
  • Create a nationwide green and nature protection network.
  • A 24/7 national veterinary hospital.

Agriculture

  • National framework for fair farm pricing.
  • Expansion of the New Water network.
  • National agricultural land bank.
  • Public procurement favouring Maltese produce.
  • National food security plan.

Governance

  • Creation of a Volunteer Reserve Force within the AFM
  • Commission a Malta Labour Shift Study in the first week, a Malta Population Level Plan in the first five months, and a National Capacity Plan with clear aims on population.
  • Make an online interview for all TCNs applying for a work permit an obligation.
  • Create Permanent Committees within Parliament for Constitutional Reform and for Ombudsman Reports respectively.
  • Introduce a law on Unexplained Wealth.
  • More rules for Persons of Trust, transparent system for appointments of CEOs of public entities and authorities.
  • Establish a National Plan with clear aims on investigation and prosecution of corruption cases.

Malta in the international world

  • Ensure that Malta has a clear voice, in conformity with its constitutional neutrality.
  • Malta will have a clear direction in favour of international law, holding big and small countries to the same standard.

Additional reporting by Katrina Cassar

 

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