Malta is probably the only place in the EU where a downpour, irrespective of intensity, is capable of scouring off, often quite deeply, newly applied asphalt road surfaces as well as causing structural damage to the integrity of the road.
Such defects often give rise to acute traffic slow-down and congestion – the ingredients for serious delays.
Not infrequently, too, damages and even total breakdowns are caused to vehicles occasionally leading to accidents, including harm to life and limb.
Work on new and old roads is costing the local and EU taxpayer hundreds of millions of euros yearly – money that is often, literally, being carried away!
How shameful and unacceptable that the authorities concerned with all modern equipment and material at their disposal are failing to produce at least one stretch of road that can survive intact the rigours of the weather.
Little imagination is needed to figure out the absolute paralysis of traffic movement if this deplorable state of affairs had to reign in overseas cities or highways let alone in a metropolis like London or Rome.
In contrast, it sounds difficult to account for and explain how some bituminous emulsion-bound road surfaces built some 50 years ago, subject to the same weather conditions, but admittedly supporting lighter traffic loads, used to last for years with proportionately little maintenance.
Some of these have proven equally effective in providing reasonable service even up to a few years ago.
To quote an example, one can refer to the stretch of road at Pietà starting from close to the upper end of the old Torpedo Depot as far as the old people’s home, executed by hand labour and with primitive materials except for the mechanical consolidation and compaction of foundations.
The time is ripe to start discarding all political, boastful rhetoric relating to road works and to concentrate instead on proving one’s claims and achievements by solid facts visible in all localities irrespective of voting boundaries.
In the end, if reliable and effective results cannot be achieved with local technical know-how and contracted services, the viable alternative is to engage foreign expertise until the time that the job, from beginning to finish, is learned by properly trained locals who can then be trusted to take over once again.
On the other hand, those in authority must also, strictly and honestly, ensure that the funds earmarked for all work reach only deserving hands at the right time and for the right job.
Finally, it is in everybody’s interest, apart from their own, that vehicle drivers or owners should learn to stand up for and defend their rights, as is the universal practice, by seeking compensation, even through court action, for damages sustained by their vehicles as a consequence of road serviceability failures.
It is thus that all concerned will have to shoulder their burdens and responsibilities or pay the price for their failures.
Edwin Calleja
BALZAN