The never-ending saga of the Mtarfa Bypass, which has been closed or partially in use since 1998, appears to be drawing to an end.
A tender is being issued for work to be carried out on the final stretch of road that leads from the corner of Triq l-Istazzjon to the Nigret Roundabout.
The Government Gazette of Tuesday 1 August lists Contract Number CT272/2006 for the construction of Mtarfa Bypass, Mtarfa (North Bound) indicating that the process has finally been kick-started. The closing date for the tender is Thursday, 24 August.
The tender calls for the installation of a storm water system, sewage drains, water mains, the formation of the road and construction of pedestrian walkways. Work is expected to take around six months.
Normally there is a six-week period for tender applications and a further six weeks for appeals, apart from a three-week adjudication period. If all goes well, work on the road will not start before the end of October, at the earliest.
Sources from the Roads and Urban Development Ministry told The Malta Independent that the construction of a retaining wall adjoining the north side of the bypass had to be completed first because the original road, which was built on a clay surface, had subsided.
The construction of this wall began in summer 2005 and was completed in April this year. It is one of the longest, thickest and highest retaining walls ever built in the country and its construction was technically challenging, the sources added.
The Mtarfa Bypass has had a chequered history. Work on its reconstruction began under a Labour administration in 1997, with the south side being resurfaced and completed albeit without any sort of lighting installed.
Work on the north side then began but stopped after the change in government. The project remained in limbo for a number of years but was restarted in 2003 with the reconstruction and eventual completion of the part of the road from the Mtarfa roundabout to the corner of Triq l-Istazzjon, which was finished in early 2005.
The stretch of road leading from the Mtarfa Military Cemetery roundabout to the Mtarfa roundabout was reconstructed and resurfaced with work ending in February this year after having started in September 2005.
The bypass is an important thoroughfare as it provides access to Rabat (from Mosta and/or Attard) from the rear through Nigret and would thus have a beneficial impact on the substantial load of heavy traffic which passes through Saqqajja Hill.
The alternate route through Mtarfa proper is undesirable as it ends with a bone-shaking stretch of Mtarfa Road which is also up for eventual reconstruction, according to the ministry’s recent statements.