When an election is approaching or the Pope is set to visit we tend to try to spruce up. We see more cleaners, roads are patched up or tarmacked, and there is a general sense that the country is getting a facelift. It’s like when we’re having a party at home and we clean the house from top to bottom, removing all the cobwebs.

But it does not look likely that the Pope will be passing from St Andrew’s Road.

There, work on a pavement around 300 metres long, probably less, started more than six months ago and it is still not concluded.

The stretch is a vital part of the so-called TEN-T network, which is supposed to link one end of the island to the other.

We know that the government, through its agency Infrastructure Malta, will be rebuilding the whole road as part of a network upgrading project. There are applications which have been affixed to the side of the road for months, if not years. Other parts of the island are seeing roads being built or widened in projects that were planned long before the St Andrew’s Road, and these are being finished before the real work in St Andrew’s starts.

We speak of the “real work” because, until now, we have seen something happening but not the mega-project itself.

Some time ago, the surface of the road near the traffic lights leading to Pembroke had become so bad that some patchwork was carried out, even though, quite strangely, some other parts where there are dips in the road or potholes were not done.

The area near the Luxol grounds has also been seen to, while concrete bollards were placed at the centre of the road, leading to many complaints when it rains heavily as that particular stretch becomes flooded.

Then there is the lower part of the road – starting from the traffic lights leading to Pembroke towards Paceville – where work on a pavement has been continuing for at least six months, probably more.

The stretch of road has been narrowed considerably to allow for the work to take place, and this has inevitably led to huge traffic jams at either end. There have been occasions when trucks being used in the project were parked on the road to narrow it even more, with the result that the line of cars grew much longer.

Drivers who pass from the area frequently wonder when the work will be finished. It has taken too long and it does not look like it will end anytime soon. They are also wondering how long the whole project will take – if 300 metres of pavement takes six months (and counting), one can only imagine what will it take to finish the whole project.

Added to this, it must be said that the concrete bollards lined up next to the pavement in question are not well lit up, and some drivers have had the misfortune of crashing into them.

So – can someone tell us what is going on, when we should expect that work on this pavement is concluded and when work on the mega-project will start?