Plans to surface 450 streets

The Transport Ministry is planning to lay tarmac on around 450 streets in towns and villages over a three-year period in a concerted drive to tackle the notorious network of unmade and potholed surfaces, some of which are no more than cart ruts.

The ministry is compiling a priority list of residential streets that are in dire need of surfacing - some of them have been on a waiting list for no less than 15 years.

Contrary to the works being done or planned on arterial roads using Italian or European Union funding, work on residential roads can only be financed from the national budget.

The Transport Ministry has requested all local councils to identify the residential roads falling under the government's responsibility that are in need of upkeep and to prioritise accordingly. Inspections are already being carried out before a programme of works is drawn up. Works are expected to start by the end of the year.

After years of neglect, Marsascala residents are among those set to benefit most. So far, about 50 potholed roads have been lined up for maintenance in Zabbar and 40 each in Mosta, Marsascala and Zurrieq. Thirty of Naxxar's roads are also earmarked for a layer of tarmac.

Some localities have not listed any residential roads to be done up.

"We can't afford to do all the roads at once for two very valid reasons - financial limitations and because contractors are stretched to the limit," a ministry spokesman told The Times.

Contractors are currently working to complete a 16-kilometre stretch of road being funded by the Italian Financial Protocol, but this makes up no more than 10 per cent of all arterial roads.

"There have never been so many roadworks going on at once," Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett told reporters during a tour of works in Luqa last January.

The works have, however, irked thousands of drivers who have had to contend with dangerous diversions.

The government has also identified 13 potential projects for arterial roads which, if accepted for EU funding between 2007 and 2013, would ease traffic flow problems and hopefully put an end to the constant grumbling.

The estimated cost of the proposed projects, which would fall under the Trans European Network project, is €315 million - 75 per cent of which can be EU-funded.

Last year, a record Lm9 million were spent on roads, including Lm3 million paid on the project financed by the Italian protocol.