The Mtarfa by-pass, the Rabat-bound lanes of which have been closed to traffic for several years, will be re-opened today.

Visiting the site yesterday, Urban Development and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett said that completion of the stretch would bring a complicated project to an end.

“This road was built on clay in the 1980s. Although it is not impossible to build on clay, a number of measures need to be taken to strengthen the foundations.

“None of these measures was taken when this road, and the St Paul’s Bay by-pass, were built more than 20 years ago,” he said.

This led to the collapse of the Mtarfa road a few years after its opening and the danger increased to the extent that the stretch had to be closed to traffic.

The reconstruction of this arterial road presented unprecedented challenges to the Network Infrastructure Directorate, among which was the building of a retaining wall in the valley to support the road.

This wall is 10 storeys high in some places, said Mr Mugliett.

The 1.3 kilometre stretch cost Lm1.2 million (about e2.8 million) to rebuild, with half this amount being spent on the building of the retaining wall.

The bypass connects with the 16.5 kilometres of roads that have been rebuilt in recent years with funds from the Fifth Italian Protocol.

Its completion means that 26 per cent of arterial roads have been rebuilt since 2000.

Mr Mugliett said the government would also rebuild Mtarfa road at a cost of Lm60,000 (e139,762).