Nationalist Party MPs Mark Anthony Sammut, Joe Giglio and David Agius all gave the same message to the government today, asking it for more foresight, better planning and more frugal use of funds for the Maltese sector of infrastructure.

Addressing a press conference a day after parts of Malta were brought to a standstill because overnight road works took longer to complete, Sammut said that Triq il-Kunsill tal-Ewropa is once again closed and receiving a new layer of tarmac. He said that the incident is by no means isolated with roads done a year or two ago being closed and redone in Zurrieq, Mosta, Xghajra and Zabbar.

It is common for people to ask when a road will be redone following the project’s completion, said Sammut. Due to the government’s incompetence, problems with transit will be repeated and result in the same situation we had yesterday in which a single incident had Malta in a gridlock, he said.

Ultimately, the two problems are a lack of alternative means of transport and a serious lack of planning and service management, Sammut said.

Giglio said that this is a problem we encounter every day.

For Giglio, the redoing of roads is problematic on three fronts; first, financially, as it is a drain on taxpayer, money which is really being thrown away if these projects are done without planning. It would be more prudent to invest taxpayer money in roads that are more longterm.

As a second point, Giglio noted that in an infrastructure projected to require two lanes, in this case, if one is shut off for repairs, the bottleneck created results in congestions that spreads all over the country. Thirdly, he said the dust in the air, fuel emissions from stuck cars and the noise pollution he pointed out on the spot all contributed to a very poor environment.

Giglio said that there is a lack of competence in infrastructure and made an appeal for better coordinated and planned projects in future.

The Luqa Local Council was not consulted regarding the roadworks, said Agius so much so that some residents could not access their own road, and this is not an isolated case. He insisted that EU funds must be used better.

Agius added that there is poor traffic management pointing out the tyre marks of a recent accident caused in the congestion by the closed road.