Inconvenience precedes St Paul’s Bay embellishment

Infrastructural works to embellish the promenade in St Paul’s Bay have left residents angry at what they claim is lack of proper site management that resulted in a lot of dust and made it difficult to access the area.

Residents complained that pavements and roads along the one-kilometre stretch in the Sirens/Gillieru area were dug up all at once.

“I am sure the promenade will look nice after it is finished but sometimes weeks go by before we see any workers. At this rate I doubt whether the project will be ready by summer,” a resident said.

The works form part of a major embellishment project undertaken by the Malta Tourism Authority and which is part-financed by the EU.

Despite residents’ doubts as to whether the project was moving ahead as planned, an MTA spokesman said works were proceeding at “a relatively steady pace” and should be ready within the predetermined time frames.

The works started towards the end of December and are expected to be completed by July for a total cost of more than €1.6 million.

“Workers cannot be seen everywhere at all times given the length of the intervention, which is about one kilometre,” the spokesman said.

He insisted the project management team was monitoring the works closely to ensure the committed work force was retained on site at all times. “All necessary contractual steps were taken to ensure the required number of workers were on site to complete the project as soon as possible to reduce the inconvenience to residents,” he said.

The authority, he added, had also acceded to a number of requests submitted by residents and stakeholders after works started.

“These changes required a number of authorisations to be in place before implementing them. These included, among others, changes in the direction of traffic, the addition of various access points, ramps and stairs, culverts and parking arrangements.”

St Paul’s Bay mayor Graziella Galea said the council had received a number of complaints, mostly related to accessibility.

“Whenever we had residents complaining about accessibility to their garages we tried to accommodate them. The MTA has promised us the project will be ready by the beginning of summer,” she said.

The project included the replacement of all underground services and the construction of a terrace overlooking the sea, she added, pointing out that the area would see considerable improvement once the job was done.