Cloud of dust to be quelled 'within a month'

Residents of Fort Road, Mosta would be relieved to learn that within a month the clouds of dust that engulf their street should be a thing of the past.

The street has been in a pitiful state for as long as they can remember and has been made worse recently after several trenches were dug and were not properly levelled because of other works in the adjacent industrial area.

Contacted yesterday, Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo said the works in the area in question fell under the wings of his secretariat but, technically speaking, the road where the residents lived was not part of the industrial area. "However I insisted that it should be surfaced as it is the entrance to the industrial area."

The snag is that before the road can be re-surfaced, more trenches have to be dug for underground cables to be passed by Enemalta in the stretch in question. Half of the work in the area is ready and some streets have already been surfaced.

"The problem with getting a contractor to finish it is that they are all engaged on road works and it is not easy to juggle one from one location to another. However, I have given instructions to the contractor who will be doing necessary trenching works and who is currently doing similar works at the MrieHel industrial estate to stop working there and finish the Mosta works first.

The people living there should be relieved of the problem as soon as possible. It is envisaged that works there should be ready by mid-August," Mr Vassallo said.

He said there were two issues why works were falling behind in some areas.

The first was that some contractors were overstretched and were still being awarded tenders. Another factor, which was often more critical, was that councils were awarding tenders to cheapest bidders and some contractors who placed the cheapest bids were not well equipped to carry out works and the result was either shoddy workmanship or very long delays.

"Very often it is both," he said.

Some residents in the area were relieved to hear the news. "It's good there is a deadline. But, to be honest, I believe it when I see it," one resident said.

Another took it in a light- hearted vein: "We must hurry up then as we only have a month left to make some money. Perhaps Steven Spielberg would decide to film some sequences for a future film about operation Desert Storm. He does not need too many props and special effects. All the material is already on site," the resident said.