An online petition calls on the Gozo Ministry to get its act together and complete works on a stretch of road thousands of tourists use every year to get to the Azure Window, Dwejra and the Blue Hole.

These locations are among the most popular in Gozo and are, in fact, ranked as the 1st, 3rd and 6th best places to visit by Tripadvisor.

The area in question is a stretch of around 400 metres of road between Gharb Corner and San Lawrenz. It seems that recent road works remain unfinished, leaving some 45 manhole covers sticking up above the surface.

“This results in local and tourist vehicles swerving or straddling the offending obstructions in order to reduce damage to their vehicles. This is a busy tourist route where buses, tourist and local traffic all travel between residential dwellings.”

The people behind the petition also say that the unfinished road is an “eyesore” for the village of San Lawrenz “which is the tourist gateway visiting the attractions of the Dwerja and Azure window.”

They also say that the incomplete and unlevelled road surface leads to localised flooding.

“The frustrating thing about this problem is that it exists only due to the fact that the original road design and construction remain incomplete, and secondly that the solution appears relatively straight forward. Furthermore, the lack of completion of this work will also likely cause the well-laid road base to be further damaged causing greater remedial cost and inconvenience in future.”