Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo told a news conference that contractors who defied local councils and national agencies by delaying roadworks indefinitely should be blacklisted.

“If a contractor fails to deliver on time, penalties should be imposed and recovered by local councils,” said Dr Vassallo. “When a contractor ignores the complaints of residents and local councils and leaves a whole neighbourhood in clouds of dust for months after the date due for completion of the work, he should be blacklisted – and for a very long period of time,” Dr Vassallo argued.

Roadworks in a part of Swieqi have been in abeyance for many weeks, leaving residents in intolerable conditions, he said. “It appears that residents have no remedies and the local council and government agencies are less powerful than the contractor.

“It is a defeat not only of residents, not only of their local council but of a whole system of government,” said Dr Vassallo. “Alternattiva Demokratika will be proposing a system to monitor delivery times of contractors to local councils in order to have a nationwide blacklisting system that will act as an effective deterrent to the arrogance of some contractors.

“The blacklisting should also apply to contracts commissioned by the national government, and no local council should be made to suffer the presence in its locality of a contractor who has mocked its residents by long delays, inefficiency and a blatant disregard for the quality of life of residents.”

Rene Rossignaud, AD candidate in the Swieqi local council election, said residents had contacted him about the effects of the dust on the health of their children.

“Residents have done everything in their power to ensure that the work continues to completion but have been unable to get a reasonable answer from any authority involved. Meanwhile, they have to deal with crisis after crisis in the health of their children, brought on by the extraordinary amount of fine dust created by traffic passing over the unmade roads for weeks on end,” said Mr Rossignaud.