Close to four weeks after a major oil spill forced the temporary closure of a  Marsa flyover to traffic, a bicycle advocacy group is still chasing the authorities to remove oil spilled onto the bicycle lane. 

Last month, a commercial truck spilt some 200 litres of cooking oil on the flyover, which had to be closed until the material was removed and the stretch was resurfaced. 

Large amounts of oil flowed onto a road beneath the flyover, including the bicycle lane. 

The NGO ROTA slammed Infrastructure Malta for failing to remove the oil from the underlying bicycle lane. It said it filed three reports to Infrastructure Malta, one a day after the incident, another on June 12 and another on Tuesday morning.  

“The presence of oil poses a serious hazard, necessitating urgent and proper measures to mitigate the risks,” ROTA said. 

“It is completely unacceptable that such a dangerous situation persists week after week. We need to ask ourselves: what more do we require before taking decisive action? Additionally, where is the Road Safety Council in all this?”

Bicycle lane mostly clear: Infrastructure Malta

Infrastructure Malta CEO Ivan Falzon said in reply to questions that the cleaning operation was still ongoing. 

The bicycle lane was mostly clear, he said, and the remaining material that absorbs the oil would be removed once the cleaning operation was complete.

He said that another four to five weeks were needed to certify the stormwater system again. 

Asked how much the cleaning operation would cost, he said that would be announced once all works were complete. Previously, Falzon said he believed the damages ran in the “thousands of euros”. 

When asked if any action had been taken against the truck owners, Falzon said action was always taken against whoever damaged the infrastructure.