ADT's extreme lack of communication

About two years ago, I started pressing the residents' case of George Borg Olivier Street with the Rabat (Malta) local council for the maintenance in one of the most historic parts of Rabat. The housing in this street is even protected by Mepa (Malta Environmental Planning Authority) from modern housing infrastructure to maintain traditional Maltese characteristics. On my behalf and on behalf of my mostly elderly neighbours, I gave the council and mayor several ideas for possible improved traffic patterns on the street. Now, years on, not only were my suggestions completely ignored but this highly travelled street has fallen into both serious and dangerous disrepair.

For example, one of the rain-water grates close to St Dominic's Square was loose three years ago. It was a minor annoyance each time a car drove over it. Now, it is a full blown deafening "klunk-klunk" noise, loud enough to jar the indoor tiles of residents' houses. Even some monks at the nearby monastery complain about this repetitive annoyance. After dozens of calls for several weeks to the ADT and some prodding to Rabat's mayor, ADT-commissioned workers showed up and spent an entire morning "repairing" the grate. "Oh happy day" we thought, finally a good night of sleep is on the way for the residents.

This was short-lived as the works carried out by ADT workers made the situation even worse. And the "klunk-klunk" became louder than ever! What astonishes me is that such a type of loud and repetitive noise (close to 90 decibels, similar to a jack-hammer) is prohibited by the Geneva Convention for the use of torture on prisoners of war, but it seems "business as usual" in Malta.

All of this goes against the EU directive and WHO guidelines relating to management of environmental noise.

What now? ADT does not answer our phone calls (you can try it on 2556 3448, even though this shows on the ADT website as the road maintenance line). So we resorted to the minister responsible for ADT (remember that the word minister means "one who renders service!). His answer to our protest of disservice was short and sweet, "ADT does not fix grates". It would have been appropriate if he took the objective approach by investigating the claims of the citizens, rather than defending the carelessness, disregard and incompetence of ADT.

The question is this... is there any accountability at all for the safety and relative well-being of the tax-paying citizens of Malta? Anyone seeking any kind of justice in Malta will save themselves time, trouble and heartache if they realise that the government does not care. Disrespect, lethargy and lack of basic values have become institutionalised.