Last Monday, a guide was overheard telling a group of tourists in Valletta that the tour they had booked for – and presumably paid for handsomely – was going to be delayed.
The reason for this was that another group of tourists who was to join them could not make it in time as they were caught up in the traffic mayhem that resulted from the closure of a short stretch of road in Pieta.
So, while some tourists were kept waiting in the scorching heat at the entrance of the capital city, some others were limping their way to the starting point as vehicles moved at a snail’s pace.
This is the Malta these tourists will remember when they go back to their homes. This is the story they will tell. They will not recall what the tour guide told them when they visited St John’s Cathedral. They will just remember that the tour started some hours later than it was scheduled, and that their tour was either cut short or that it was hastened up.
And probably they were not the only ones. Many others would have gone through the same experience.
We know that road works are needed, and that any upkeep on major arteries will lead to issues. Infrastructure Malta said in a statement that the works were scheduled in the summer season so as not to coincide with the academic year, and also to avoid mass activities that were scheduled in Valletta. Well and good, but the agency probably forgot that many people work in Valletta, and that tourists like to visit the capital city when they are here.
It is always a mystery why road works take so long in Malta, and why the counter-measures taken never work as they should. It is also inconceivable why such road works are not carried out round the clock to get them out of the way as quickly as possible.
Or else, as happened in St Andrew’s recently, why aren’t road works carried out during the night only? A few weeks ago, another important link in Malta’s road network, a 200-metre stretch between Pembroke and the Paceville lights, was closed for several hours for a number of nights, but then reopened for the rest of the day when traffic is heavier. This meant that the inconvenience created was minimal. Why not do the same at Pieta?
We’re so small and the routes available are so limited that each time something like what is happening in Pieta takes place, the country comes to a halt. And each time an accident happens in a major road, this brings the country to a complete stop simply because the alternative roads cannot take the same amount of traffic.
One day, an accident in Marsaxlokk will be affecting traffic in Mellieha. We’re exaggerating, of course, but we’re not that far away from this happening.
In the meantime, those tourists who went to Valletta will not remember the beauty of the Caravaggio paintings. They will just tell the story of how long they had to wait to take a tour which was cut short or rushed through.