Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett paid a visit to the site yesterday and explained that there were various types of roads in Malta and all needed different types of maintenance.

Mr Mugliett explained that some roads required complete stripping and the re-laying of foundations while others could be patched or just needed resurfacing. The Strand fell into the latter category. However, he said that the old patching method was largely being discarded to be replaced by complete resurfacing.

Mr Mugliett said that in the next two weeks, various projects were going to be started on arterial and main roads through funding of the Italian Protocol. He said that the funds would be used for a large project running between Luqa, Qormi, Rabat and Mtarfa.

He explained that two Italian contractors had delegated work to Maltese contractors, while one other had not.

He said that The Strand was one of the roads which was damaged in the 15 September 2003 floods. Asked by this newspaper whether any EU disaster relief funding was going to be used for this project, the minister replied: “No not this one”.

The work was well underway yesterday and was scheduled to be completed by today. He said that the Malta Transport Authority had not done a proper job on Tuesday with diverting traffic through other roads, but the situation was addressed and sorted out. “In fact, even the contractor in question was fined for not following proper procedures,” he said.

Asked by The Malta Independent to give comments about the outgoing and incoming chairman of the MTA, Mr Mugliett said that the authority had not been in existence for long. “We had to take stock of the situation and when you do, you realise that an authority such as this needed to be kept up to date,” he said.

Mr Mugliett explained that the board was coming to the end of its term and some of the directors did not even want to stay on. “But we realised that we needed fresh input. Now we have a mix of new and old, which is good for continuity and for generating new ideas,” he said.

He said that Mark Portelli, who is the new chairman of the MTA, will assume his role and his involvement with the Freeport will be very much reduced.