There seems to be no end to the troubles that afflict Gozo and the Gozitans.

Over the weekend, as had happened the previous weekend, connections between the two islands were reduced to just one ship.

The reasons are known: The Ta’ Pinu is being fitted out with a second level for car carrying at the Palumbo Shipyards. That left two ships. And first one, then the other, suffered ramp problems and had to be given on-the-spot maintenance.

Having just one ship means 25 minutes for a crossing either way, say 15 minutes to unload and load. That gives a service once every hour-and-a-half. So the people in cars who just miss the boat have to wait for that much in the boiling sun. Unless, of course, they give up and turn back.

Once in Gozo, people have to navigate the roadworks at Rabat; roadworks which have taken months and months, and which have made life on the main street of the island’s main town impossible and even dangerous.

You get people with babies who want to go to the bank, others who go to shop, elderly women on their way to church, etc. All risk life and limb navigating mounds of rubble, shaky planks over holes and ditches, etc.

And this is just the lower end of the main road. Imagine what will happen when they gear up to do the upper and narrower parts, if they have not done these already.

The funny and not so funny thing is that when the Prime Minister was going to inaugurate the Villa Rundle restoration, a layer of tarmac was hurriedly laid, so that the royal buttocks do not feel the bumps, but once that was over, and also a 15-minute Cabinet meeting in Gozo, the tarmac was pulled up once again and the digging resumed.

This crucial part of roadworks is necessary, so they tell us, because of the EU funding for what is called the Ten-T road, from San Lawrenz to Marsaxlokk. However, we feel, and everybody feels, it could have been done differently and it could be done with more hands on deck. Instead, at most times, you only see patches of work here and there and nothing like a concentrated effort.

Over the past months, especially when works were being done at the lower end of the street where a new roundabout was created and the Governor’s House dismantled and shifted just some metres away, road signs went crazy and people had to go to Għasri just to get from one side of Rabat to the other.

Of course, once in Malta, people from Gozo have to navigate all those other roadworks in Ċirkewwa, Għadira and Mellieħa, adding time, frustration and heat to their drive.

One could say it is all for a good reason, but, along with Alfred Sant some days ago in Parliament, we ask: Why have all these works been undertaken all together instead of one after the other? Of course, some would argue quite the opposite: Once there was all this disruption coming, it was better to have it all at once rather than having a never-ending round of roadworks.

One also notes however, that the Gozitans have suffered a bout of grand projects – there was the Villa Rundle restoration, the garden in Marsalforn, and the ongoing works at Mġarr. To be fair, these do not add to the disruption as the roadworks do, but one wonders how the meagre fiscal possibilities of Malta can stand all these works together.

But then, of course, one realises: There’s an election coming and some politicians seem to think the final product will make people forget the hassle and noise, the inconvenience and bad planning that went before.