The auditor general has been asked to investigate how two Gudja streets had to be dug up and relaid just a few months after a costly infrastructural upgrade. 

Speaking in parliament during the adjournment on Wednesday evening, Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi said he had called on the NAO to investigate this “scandalous” misuse of public funds.    

He said last year two small residential roads in Gudja, Joseph Pace Street and St Catherine Street, were dug up just a few months after they had been relaid.  

In reply to a parliamentary question, it turned out that the government had spent close to a quarter of a million euros on these two roads.

“I personally visited the site and saw the terrible state residents have been living in. It was worse than a war zone,” he said.  

He also wrote to parliament's Public Accounts Committee over the matter. 

Azzopardi had posted a video of the state of the two roads in November.

'Paola residents deserve answers'

Later in his remarks, Azzopardi also asked when the government would give the public answers on the misuse of public funds on the Paola square project. 

Last November, Azzopardi had told Parliament that the Paola square would be dug up and rebuilt again, three years after a much-trumpeted renovation project.  

First announced in 2015, Pjazza Antoine de Paul's regeneration cost €3 million and was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in 2018. 

The PN MP recalled that last year he tabled parliamentary questions addressed to Culture Minister Jose Herrera and Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg about the matter. 

Azzopardi had at the time asked who would take responsibility "for the criminal offence". 

On Wednesday he reiterated calls for someone to shoulder responsibility for abusive misuse of public funds. 

"When will the those responsible give the public the answers they deserve?" He asked.