Works on the first 31 residential roads being overhauled as part of the government’s €700 million investment began this week, Transport Minister Ian Borg announced on Tuesday.

During a visit to works being carried out on a dirt road in residential Fgura which had never been laid with asphalt, Dr Borg said a total of 120 roads would be revamped this year.

This will see an investment of €53.5 million covering 25 kilometers of roads across the island.

The total allocation for 2019 is €100 million and Dr Borg said a second call for works would be announced later this year.

Read: The seven-year path to fix all of Malta's roads

Work on the 31 roads will involve the installation of 32km of water distribution pipelines, electricity cables and communication ducts.

The extensive project will be undertaken by three consortia chosen by Infrastructure Malta following a call for tenders.

Dr Borg said roads such as the topsy-turvy one in Fgura which had never seen a drop of asphalt were being given priority as “for the people who live on roads like these, they are the most important ones in Malta”.

The government has committed itself to resurface all of these roads within three years, at a minimum rate of 60 roads per year.

A specific management agency, Infrastructure Malta, has been set up to oversee the road building and upgrading targets.

This, Dr Borg said, would mean that local councils will no longer be directly responsible for asphalting roads.

While no longer being tasked with surfacing roads, the government’s plan will see local councils entering into public-private partnerships with companies in order to ensure the continued maintenance of urban roads.