A year after its targetted completion date, the €2 million Mellieħa bypass project remains unfinished as works to repair parts of its bumpy surface are yet to be carried out. 

Defects in the road’s asphalt had been flagged within weeks after it reopened in June last year. Tests carried out by Infrastructure Malta – the State agency responsible for the project – subsequently confirmed that the asphalting works were not up to standard. It transpired that the bumps and depressions in the road’s surface were not within the acceptable limit.

Replying to a parliamentary question filed by Opposition MP Chris Said, Transport Minister Ian Borg last November had said these defects were the result of bad workmanship. Consequently, repairs would have to be carried out at the contractor’s expense. Furthermore, Dr Borg had pledged the repairs would be done at the turn of the year to avoid traffic disruptions during the feast season. 

However, the resurfacing of the wavy parts was postponed various times and, to date, works are still pending. 

Contacted by Times of Malta, an Infrastructure Malta spokesman said the repairs would be finally carried out at the end of summer.

While last February, when the January deadline had been missed, the agency had pledged to carry out the repairs “as soon as possible in the coming weeks”, it is now claiming these works had been intentionally postponed so as not to coincide with other “planned and contracted” works in nearby alternative plans. 

These included the reconstruction of Triq il-Marfa which is the main alternative route to Għadira Bay, the reconstruction of Triq il-Wilġa from Manikata to Anchor Bay, and repairs at Triq il-Mellieħa which links Manikata to Mellieħa, the spokesman said 

“Since most of these works are now completed or in their final stages, the required repairs at the Mellieħa bypass can be rescheduled to soon after the peak summer season,” he added. 

The Mellieħa bypass project was mired in controversy from the very start in the wake of the decision to narrow part of it and accommodate a service road next to a massive block of apartments under construction. 

Faced with a public outcry, the government said it would be “reconstructing” the bypass and retain the four-lane configuration. 

However, once the project had been completed, the speed limit in the narrow part had to be halved to 40 kilometres per hour for safety reasons.