Road contractors to face tougher penalty clauses

Contractors involved in works on residential roads who do not organise the work sites well or do not complete the work on time could be denied other work, Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett said yesterday.

He said this was one of the conditions of the tenders currently being awarded for road works.

Asked by Labour MP Noel Farrugia whether the time had come to start blacklisting contractors who were repeat offenders, the minister said that blacklisting could not be done by the Malta Transport Authority on its own but together with the Department of Contracts. And this was easier said than done since many contractors nowadays did not work on their own but formed consortia.

This did not mean that blacklisting was being excluded but the government was considering fines, which were what hurt the most. This was not just a problem of arterial roads but also of residential ones.

Meanwhile, Gozo Minister Govanna Debono said works on the Victoria-San Lawrenz road are due for completion by the end of the year as laid down in the contract of works. She told Anton Refalo (MLP) in reply to a parliamentary question that her ministry remained committed to rebuilding the road to Xlendi.