Roads Minister blames contractor for bridge delays

Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett is blaming the contractor for the six-month delay on the Manwel Dimech bridge and insisted all the work had to be ready by March 31.

"What went wrong is that the contractor was not prepared for the challenge," he said, replying to questions during an on-site visit to witness the completion of the first phase of the work.

He said that, among others, there were issues revolving around the type of sealing asphalt used and the contractor had tried to change the specifications of the contract to opt out of using Goss asphalt.

"It would have been easier for the contractor had he opted out of this but we had to insist that the correct material is used and brought in from abroad, which, obviously, took time until the whole matter was sorted out," Mr Mugliett said.

Despite the minister's insistence that the bridge has to be ready by March 31, the contractor last week told the media that May is a more realistic target date for completion.

Would the contractor be incurring any penalties if he failed to meet the March deadline?

"We feel it is acceptable that the works are finished by then, if not the contractor will face consequences. The Director of Contracts decides on the penalties and he has indicated that March 31 should be the date of completion," Mr Mugliett said.

The east deck of the bridge was being asphalted on Saturday and between today and tomorrow traffic will be able to travel normally along both carriageways.

However, the entire bridge will then be closed off to traffic from 7 p.m. tomorrow to 6 a.m. Wednesday, until preparations are made to close the west deck, which has been used for traffic for the past months and open up the east deck. (See below for traffic arrangements.)

Responding to criticism in the media, Mr Mugliett said there were never any compromises on the new bridge. He gave an extensive rundown of the project and the details behind the decision to construct new bridge decks.

Referring to accusations that the costs were spiralling out of control as a result of the delays, Mr Mugliett said the original estimate was of Lm2.4 million (€5.6 million) but the contract value was Lm1.9 million (€4.4 million).

He explained that, as happened in any project, contractors made requests for cost variations. In this case, the contractor made a number of requests but the Director of Contracts only accepted additional costs amounting to Lm18,000 (€419,000), and not Lm500,000 (€1.2 million) as alleged.

Asked if the government was planning to take up the proposal of the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU to leave both carriageways open over the Christmas period, Mr Mugliett said at the moment this was not an option.

"Suspending the works is dangerous, because the contractor can claim his plant is being left idle and charge us. Secondly, we had similar traffic arrangements last Christmas. We are committed to ensure the traffic management system works and we will be monitoring the situation," he said.

New traffic arrangements

The Malta Transport Authority (ADT) said both carriageways of Manwel Dimech bridge will be open to traffic today.

However, both viaducts will be closed from the Paceville junction up to Guzè Ellul Mercer bridge (Regional Road) between 7 p.m. tomorrow and 6 a.m. on Wednesday.

During this time the following traffic management scheme will be implemented:

• Vehicles from St Andrews will be diverted to Sant'Andrija Street, St George Street towards Spinola.

• Vehicles from Kappara will be diverted down the slip road off Guzè Ellul Mercer bridge onto Naxxar Road.

• Access will not be permitted from Spinola through Mikelang Borg Street onto Manwel Dimech bridge.

Then, from Wednesday after 6 a.m., the following arrangements will be implemented until further notice:

• Traffic from Kappara flowing towards St Julians will, upon exiting the tunnel, be diverted to the eastern viaduct (the carriageway in the direction of Valletta, which would have just been completed).

• Traffic from St Andrews will proceed through the same carriageway. This means that two-way traffic will flow through the newly-constructed deck in a single file, in opposing directions.