Marsascala bypass to be rebuilt with EU money

Marsascala residents will no longer have to endure their daily bone-rattling drive to leave their town, as the government has secured EU funding to rebuild the infamous Marsascala bypass.

The three-kilometre stretch will be completely reconstructed and several parts of the road will have to be realigned, a Roads Ministry spokesman told The Times.

The €7.7 million (Lm3.2 million) project will be funded by the European Regional Development Fund, marking the first road project derived from the EU's new budget.

The meandering Marsascala bypass was built in the 1980s amid claims that it was designed in such a way as to appease certain individuals who owned fields on its periphery. It is not yet known whether the new project will require expropriation.

The government has also secured funding for two other projects. The heavily deteriorated Valletta Road, in Zurrieq, will also get a much-needed makeover. Spanning 3.2 kilometres, from the ST Microelectronics plant to Zurrieq, the project will cost €3.5 million (Lm1.49 million).

Another project is earmarked for a 600-metre stretch of the Birkirkara bypass, stretching from the roundabout near the Vodafone showroom to the road leading to Lija. The road will be re-surfaced and pavements will be rebuilt from scratch.

The applications have already been submitted to the Contracts Department and the adjudication process should be completed by March. If all goes to plan, work on the three roads should start by the end of the year, the spokesman said.

Several residential roads are also finally being given a layer of tarmac, thanks especially to a healthy injection from the EU's Structural Funds and the Italian Financial Protocol.

It has not all been plain sailing though, with several motorists and residents lamenting the general disregard shown by contractors while works were going on.

New roads built with Italian Protocol money have also come under intense scrutiny from the Labour opposition, which has levelled accusations of bad construction and severe cost overruns.