Infrastructure Malta has cordoned off a road in between quarries in Mqabba that is at risk of collapse as it investigates “unexplained deterioration” in its foundations.
“We have been monitoring it for the last few weeks but took the decision to close it because we witnessed some unexplained rapid deterioration in these last few days,"Infrastructure Malta chief executive Ivan Falzon told Times of Malta.
"The road sits between two quarries so we will not take risks".
He said that testing and coring are ongoing to better understand what needs to be done. “An intervention is definitely required,” he added.
The roads agency posted on Facebook on Thursday announcing that it will carry out urgent interventions in Tas-Sejba Road, Mqabba.
The road has been shut from the Triq Il-Parroċċa corner to the Triq Il-Madonna tal-Gilju corner. IM said it is working to start repairs as soon as possible after assessing the situation and determining what work needs to be done.
One person who posted a comment underneath the post noted that the road had dipped by more than a metre in the past year.
In February 2010, a 12-storey quarry side in Mqabba collapsed, damaging a school playground. The quarry's boundary wall runs alongside the back of the school perimeter.
The geological study established that this was partly caused by the rubble and soil used as filling material for an adjacent quarry and on which the school’s football pitch was built.
A report drawn up after the collapse found that the structural integrity of the school building was not affected by the collapse because it was built on solid rock.
The pitch had been built about three years before by the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools in a field on the grounds of a reclaimed quarry. The field was surrounded by a deeper quarry on two sides and the steep rock face abutting onto the quarry was characterised by natural faults.
Quarries dug side by side are normally separated by a thin rock face. In this case, the filling material of the disused quarry, composed of rubble and soil, caused pressure on the thin skin of rock and contributed to the collapse, the report found.