Days after refusing to provide parliament with information about the cost of taxpayer-funded roadworks Chris Bonett on Monday finally tabled the costings of projects in several localities.
In June, Times of Malta reported that, on multiple occasions, the Infrastructure Minister failed to provide answers to questions by PN spokesperson Joe Giglio about publicly funded roadworks in Gżira, Ħamrun, Kalkara, Lija and the Malta International Airport ringroad among others.
In each case, Giglio asked the minister to say when the project began, when it ended, how much it was originally expected to cost and how much was actually spent on the works.
For each of the questions, the minister provided a boilerplate reply that divulged none of that information.
On each occasion, Bonett repeated a two-sentence reply: The projects, he said, were part of Labour’s seven-year, €700 million nationwide roadworks plans.
“Infrastructure Malta continues to carry out one project after another to prepare Malta for the future; projects that pre-2013 governments did not have the will or vision to carry out," he added.
Speaker Anġlu Farrugia has repeatedly ruled that he has no authority to compel ministers to answer parliamentary questions accurately or in a timely manner.
But rule-of-law NGO Repubblika expressed concern about Farrugia’s application of parliamentary rules, saying it posed a “threat to democracy”.
How much did road projects cost?
On Monday, Bonett finally provided some of the information requested about roadworks in Rabat, Qormi, St Paul's Bay, San Ġwann, St Julian's and Santa Lucia.
In his reply to questions by Giglio, he still repeated that line about the works forming part of the PL's €700 million nationwide roadworks plans.
Answering questions about Rabat roadworks, he said a project in Tal-Landrijiet Area, completed in March 2023 cost €546,482.30 excluding VAT, while sewer lining works in Triq San Luqa completed in May of last year cost €64,030.
Work in Triq San Luqa completed that same month cost €61,713.60 while roadwork in Triq Tat-Torri, Triq Pawlu Xuereb and Triq Vincenzo M Pellegrini completed in September cost €272,920.07 excluding VAT.
In Qormi, work in Triq San Ġwakkin costing €259,566.70 was completed in July of last year.
In St Julian's, infrastructure work in Triq Mikiel Anton Vassalli completed in August cost €60,650.33, and work in Triq Sir Joseph Carbone completed in January of 2023 cost €133,529.66.
The reconstruction of Triq William Prescott which was completed in September 2022, of Telgħet Birkirkara which was completed in February of 2023 and that of Sqaq Ciantar which finished in February of 2023 cost €195,552.26.
Triq Charles Sciberras' phase one works were completed in June of last year and cost €124,968.20, while works in Sqaq is-Siġar, Triq Henry Calleja and Sqaq Lourdes were completed in November and cost €174,164.25.
Meanwhile, in San Ġwann, Triq Antonio Schembri and part of Triq L-Orintoloġija were completed in July of last year and cost a total of €292,282.82 excluding VAT.
In St Paul's Bay, Triq Luigi Preziosi was completed in June 2023 and cost €249,983.20, Triq l-Għabex was completed in September and cost €209,110.39 while an unnamed road corner with Dawret il-Qawra was also completed in September and cost €161,819.90.
In Santa Lucia, Triq Klematis, Triq Inez Soler, Triq Prinjol and Dawret it-Torri were completed in April of last year and cost €1,446,921.72 while Triq il-Gjaċinti and Triq Stella Maris were completed in December and the final bill has not yet been computed.