The Kirkop-bound stretch of the road beneath the airport runway will be closed as from 6 April as work on the Kirkop tunnels project enters another phase, Infrastructure Malta CEO Ivan Falzon said on Thursday.

Falzon said that the project has only 25% left to be completed and is currently in its final stages.

“The target date remains end of April,” he said.

He said that much of the work that is still to be completed “are finishing touches” like the laying of asphalt.

He said that since January total of seven routes had been opened.

“It is not fair that people say that the project is taking long,” he said, adding that it is wrong to say that the project was initiated more than five years ago, when in reality work started in the beginning of 2021.

He said that as the project progressed, workers faced several obstacles such as archaeological finds including cart ruts.

Falzon said that works had to be interrupted so that archaeologists could excavate the finds by hand whilst jotting down notes. He also said that catacombs had been discovered in a roundabout in front of the McDonalds outlet.

As a protective measure, the catacombs have been filled with construction foam to decrease risk of damage from construction vibrations.

Since works are ongoing in the area, Falzon urged drivers to abide by the 30 kilometres per hour recommendation and “for people to take other routes” if they can.

The architect engaged for the project, Anton Zammit said that starting on 6 April, incoming traffic from the airport going to the Kirkop tunnels will be redirected as the roundabout will be closed as a safety measure.

Oncoming traffic from Hal Far to Luqa and Qormi is also going to be redirected.

With regard to another project taking place in the same area, the Luqa Junction project, Falzon said that around 65 percent of it is complete.

He said that the target finish date is mid-May.

He said that both the Kirkop tunnels project and the Luqa Junction project are dependent on each other to be completed.