Sixteen of the 37 road projects that were to be completed by June are still under way, although Infrastructure Malta insists half of them will be finalised “in the coming weeks”.

Times of Malta reported last month that some 121 road projects were being done, with Infrastructure Malta saying 37 of them would be finished off by the end of the month.

But, according to information supplied by the roads agency this week, works on 16 of those roads have yet to be completed.

Why are the projects behind schedule?

An agency spokesperson, however, justified the delays, saying that, in nine of the roads, the final asphalt layer will be done in “the coming weeks, as originally planned, in conjunction with ongoing works in other adjoining roads”.

This, the spokesperson said, was being done to ensure a “uniform surface with less asphalt joints between roads, augmenting the quality and durability of the new infrastructure”. Meanwhile, these roads are already open to users, he said.

The agency did not provide the names of the nine roads.

Of the remaining seven projects, works in two are on hold “to await related works by other entities in the same area”.

On the other five projects, the spokesperson again pointed to “other entities”, saying that the planned timeframes were extended “to carry out additional works requested by other entities”.

Some were “necessitated by unforeseeable conditions in pre-existing infrastructure (such as uncovering of weak foundations) in recent weeks”, the spokesperson said.

An exercise carried out by Times of Malta in June had found that confusing signage, unfinished jobs and single lanes were behind the long traffic jams reported across Malta’s roads.

As too many projects are taking place at once, drivers are often stuck in tailbacks because of different roadworks in the same areas, some of which appear to be moving at a slow pace.