A total 128 residential roads have been completed so far this year by roads agency Infrastructure Malta.

The Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement the roads, which add up to 27 kilometres, include 50 kilometres of pavements and 80 kilometres of new underground distribution services were also laid.

Such services include water pipes, water, drainage, internet and telecommunication services ducts, rainwater channels, and electricity cables.

The ministry said the streets were topped with 73,000 tons of asphalt, with Infrastructure Minister Aaron Farrugia describing the investment as “unprecedented”.

The upgraded streets form part of a seven-year programme to improve Malta’s residential streets which is currently in its fourth year.

Farrugia said the residential roads complemented major infrastructure projects.

He said that work on residential and rural roads is ongoing and carried out “according to the needs of the people”.

Farrugia said his ministry will be creating schemes to enable local councils to invest in mobility spaces to create an infrastructure that addresses the needs of society.

He noted that while the works on the residential roads were being carried out, large infrastructural projects such as the Kirkop tunnels and the Mrieħel Underpass Project continued.

A continuous maintenance and repair programme was also in place for many other roads not targetted by an ongoing seven-year plan - now in its fourth year - for the improvement of residential streets, Farrugia said.

Improvement works on residential roads, the minister said, will “continue unabated” in the coming months, with Infrastructure Malta already working on a further 120 roads and with works on more roads targetted to start soon.