Learning from the road

In his Talking Point last Monday, Lino Spiteri tackled a more down-to-earth subject than usual - road works, the resulting inconveniences and value for money thereof.

While sharing most of Mr Spiteri's concerns, I cannot say I agree with most of his conclusions.

The first point I wish to rebut is that the arterial roads we have been working on for the past 14 months are being relaid. To my mind, relaying means resurfacing. What we are doing with the road upgrade programme financed under the Fifth Italo-Maltese Financial Protocol in effect is total reconstruction.

This reconstruction was required for different reasons but mostly because of the mediocre methods used in the building of these roads by previous Labour administrations in the 1970s and 1980s. This is definitely the case with Mdina Road in Zebbug.

Another reason for this reconstruction is the need to improve the geometry of the roads, and particularly junctions, to bring these roads to acceptable design standards.

The last major reason which resulted in the need for reconstruction was the large array of services needed to be passed along the roads. There were particular stretches for which we originally sought simplified solutions - such as Qormi Road in Luqa. However, with the progress of works, the requirements of new services needing to be passed under the road actually resulted in the need for total reconstruction.

Mr Spiteri raises the point that value from road repairs is still nowhere in sight. It is not exactly clear which repairs Mr Spiteri is referring to. However, a great deal of repairs, particularly patching, is carried out by local councils. Reinstatement of trenches is carried out by the corporations installing new infrastructure.

I agree with Mr Spiteri that there is much room for improvement in this area, particularly because the reinstatement of the tarmac is carried out with inferior quality "cold mix" material. Considering all roads as assets to be managed during their design life will be another challenge which the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) has to take on in the coming months.

One point that I definitely did not understand (let alone agree with) is when he says that "already there are disturbing signs of pulling up today what was finished yesterday and with some delay at that". It seems that Mr Spiteri has not understood what we have done with a lot of commitment and at great cost. Telephone cables, water mains and high tension electricity cables have been removed from under the carriageways and shifted to two-metre-high precast common service ducts or six-way ducts running along the length of the road. In fact, not a single metre of the seven kilometres of roads that were opened to traffic so far have been dug up after completion.

One point that I cannot rebut to the full is the shortcoming of "planning and coordination at the execution of the project". With all honesty I have to admit that I myself am not happy with the planning and coordination. Without trying to justify or excuse these shortcomings, I would like to highlight the causes of this breakdown.

The scale of the project is unparalleled in Malta with twice the funds that are voted for roads in a good year. Notwithstanding the fact that the value of the works should have been an indication of the volume, there is still an inherent tendency among local contractors not to fully mobilise from the outset. This is probably the greatest shortcoming to date.

Another reason for this shortcoming is the lack of satisfactory alternative routes that can be used as diversions.

Lately the ADT has been insisting with contractors to keep the completion deadlines. This has nothing to do with the CHOGM meeting. This has resulted in contractors upping their tempo but without giving the same attention to signage and alternative deviations.

This experience has, however, thought us that we need a more proactive traffic management structure which monitors projects on a daily basis. I wish to point out that the ADT's responsibility for road closures is restricted solely to cases where there are ongoing works. Ironically, the authority is constantly pressured to endorse road closures for a myriad of other reasons including horse races, letting off petards and even not to disturb musical rehearsals such as in the case of Pinto Road these days.

The timeframes of the Fifth Italo-Maltese Financial Protocol were clear from the start and have not been delayed or brought forward since the commencement of works in June last year. The original term of the project gave us till September 2005 to get the job done. Despite the fact that Foreign Minister Michael Frendo successfully negotiated an extension to this term by two years, the road works are still expected to meet the original September deadline. Extending this deadline would effectively mean having the Italian protocol works coinciding with the start of works on six other road upgrade projects that are being co-financed by the European Union. We were more than justified in sticking to our schedule to complete 16 kilometres of new roads in little over than a year.

Naturally, it has also been a learning experience for all those who were involved in its execution - for me, the engineers at the ADT, down to the contractors and their workers.

Although I have no delusions that everything has been perfect, come next September we will give motorists and the Maltese public value for money and, hopefully, better prepared structures that can tackle the projects we will be undertaking more efficiently.

Mr Mugliett is Minister for Urban Development and Roads.