National Council presses for faster lift and escalator repairs
By Zak Jackson, MonacoViews Editorial
Elected members have criticised the pace of renovation work on Monaco's public lifts and escalators, with 52 still needing attention.
Budget debates at the National Council last week turned to a problem many residents know well: lifts and escalators across the Principality that break down with frustrating regularity. Elected members pressed the government on the backlog, with one noting bluntly that 52 units still await renovation, a figure he described as simply too high.
The issue goes beyond inconvenience. Monaco's network of public lifts and escalators connects steep residential districts, from the Rock to Monte-Carlo and beyond, and outages leave people with reduced mobility struggling to get around. For elderly residents and those with disabilities, a broken lift on a key route is not a minor irritation but a genuine barrier to daily life.
The minister responsible acknowledged the scale of the problem during the session and confirmed that a faster renovation programme is needed. No detailed timetable was set out during the debate, but the exchange signals that pressure is building within the Council to accelerate works that have lagged behind the pace residents expect from the Principality's infrastructure.
For property owners and residents in areas reliant on these connections, particularly those linking lower districts to the upper town, the coming budget cycle will be watched closely to see whether commitments translate into a concrete schedule of repairs.