Updated 4.50pm

Standstill traffic on the Regional Road early on Wednesday was caused by concrete which did not dry sufficiently for traffic after overnight works, sources said.

The traffic nightmare was compounded by the closure of part of Corradino Hill for the Muslim celebration of Eid al Fitr at the mosque, causing traffic mayhem from St Julians to Cospicua. 

The Regional Road was meant to reopen for traffic at 5am after maintenance works in the Swieqi area which were advertised last week. But since the concrete did not dry sufficiently for heavy traffic, the reopening was delayed by some four hours, to 9am.

Infrastructure Malta said officially that there had been "technical complications" and it apologised for the inconvenience.

"After a thorough inspection and verification by Infrastructure Malta's professionals, the stretch of road in question was reopened for vehicular traffic a few hours later than planned which led to this morning's traffic," it said.

Minister: Contractor will have to pay

Transport Minister Chris Bonett said the contractor would shoulder responsibility for what had happened, although he acknowledged that there were complications sometimes. He too apologised for what had happened.

Asked on Wednesday afternoon what he meant by "responsibilities", Bonnet said the contractor would be paying a fine. 

"The contractor is bound by clauses ensuring that if he promises to complete work within a time frame and encounters hurdles that he is responsible for, he will be fined".

Bonett said mistakes sometimes happened when work was underway: "We will continue working to reduce similar incidents". 

"Since I've been minister in the last four months this is the first time we had this sort of incident," he added.

A similar situation happened on the Għadira Bay road in May last year, when motorists were stuck in an hour-long traffic jam in Mellieħa as they waited for a stretch of freshly laid asphalt to dry. 

Wednesday's delayed opening of the Regional Road saw tailbacks all the way to Marsa and Sta Luċija, delaying hundreds of motorists who were on their way to work.  

Traffic was diverted down sliproads to alternative routes.

Traffic on the Regional Road was being diverted to the sliproads.

The problem was most serious for northbound traffic, although traffic flow to the south was also affected.  

The road was reopened at 9am, though traffic remained slow-moving. More road works in the same area are planned tonight and on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. 

At Corradino, traffic was slowed because of an event organised by the Muslim community at the mosque to celebrate Eid al Fitr. The road in front of the mosque, southbound, was partially closed. 

Traffic stretched back to Cospicua, where motorists were seen turning their cars around and returning from where they came in frustration. 

"It took me 40 minutes to drive a five-minute journey. Police were out directing traffic on roundabouts," one motorist who was late for work said. 

Bonett said Transport Malta enforcement officers had done their best to control traffic around Corradino but they did not have the authority to remove people from the road, and the police had to be called in. 

PN leader Bernard Grech said the delays were a "result of a lack of planning and traffic management".

"The Nationalist Party would ensure that there is serious and effective traffic management, that a thousand roads are not closed at once and that there are incentives and investment to encourage alternative transport so that people can get from one place to another in an efficient time," he said.