Cost of road damage still unknown

The Malta Transport Authority (ADT) is still unable to quantify the cost of damage to the St Paul's Bay bypass six years after part of it collapsed following illegal excavations carried out on a site owned by Polidano Brothers.

The ADT said in response to questions sent just under three months ago: "The expenses for all remedial works are still being quantified. The definitive action plan regarding these remedial works is currently being discussed internally".

The Times had reported that a mudslide had occurred at the site last January. It subsequently reported that the excavations carried out there by Polidano Brothers were not covered by a permit.

An inquiry ordered by the Environment Minister was highly critical of the approach taken by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority saying "it had left the developers to do as they please". The developer will now be ordered to rehabilitate the site.

However, questions remain about the safety of the road.

The section of the inner lane that runs along the edge of the excavated site has been cordoned off for six years.

Asked whether the concrete structure put in place to support the road was adequate, the ADT said it was still waiting for Polidano Brothers' architect and civil engineer to submit drawings and calculations on the structure in spite of several reminders.

The authority said it has monitored the road's condition to ascertain whether any further damage is being done and sent its own road engineering consultants to re-examine the road after January's mudslide.

"These confirmed that the road was still safe but regular close monitoring of the site is being carried out," the ADT said.

The Times tried to contact the authority's architect responsible for the road, Mario Ellul, in order to clarify the safety aspect but although messages were left at his office, Mr Ellul did not return the calls.

CEO Gianfranco Selvaggi said the road has been deemed safe to carry traffic because otherwise it would have been closed.

The inner lane "is obviously not safe, that is why it has been cut off," he said.

The January mudslide, which eventually prompted the inquiry, took place after silt placed behind the structure installed by Polidano Bros to secure the area gave way.

After that incident, Paul Polidano said that the mudslide occurred after "movement" was detected in the earth. Pillars were inserted into the silt to make the area secure, he said, adding that the land had most probably given way after heavy rainfall.

There is yet another safety issue connected with the road collapse. Back in 2001, when the Roads Department was still not incorporated in the ADT, then director Lino Zammit had told The Times that the problem was being dealt with after a number of cars had crashed into the barriers. The barriers are still there.

The road, he had said then, had subsided "after contractors, working some six storeys down, over-excavated the land".

The board of inquiry that drew up the Xemxija report raised the issue of the bypass collapse even though it was not part of its terms of reference.

A note, confirmed by the ADT, shows that the authority had taken part in a meeting with Polidano Brothers and the Attorney General in June 2000, shortly after the road collapsed.

The ADT said that after this meeting it was agreed that Polidano Bros would submit an application for the development of the site - which is outside development zone - so that a retaining wall could be built to deal with the problem.

According to the report, an application (PA 2358/02) was submitted two years later, in April 2002, for "structural retaining walls and old people's residence". The application was eventually changed into one for a residential complex.

Since then, the ADT confirmed, the cost of carrying out remedial work has not yet been quantified, despite the fact that a €6 million (Lm2.6m) contract for the reconstruction of the St Paul's Bay bypass - including the collapsed section at the Xemxija end - was awarded in February.

Although the reconstruction work is to begin soon, the authority said the cost of repairs to the affected area would not be taken from the money allocated to rebuild the road.

Attempts to contact Polidano Group through its legal representative were unsuccessful.