Patrick Cooke
Councils struggle over potholes
Bidnija
Several councils have complained they are struggling to maintain roads under their responsibility due to lack of funds, as the rains continue to drill potholes, causing havoc for drivers and vehicles.
Roadworks have been completed on 277 residential roads since a €15 million roads strategy was introduced by the government in January 2010.
While arterial and distributor roads are Transport Malta’s responsibility, it is up to councils to maintain and improve all other roads in their locality, unless privately owned.
Under the tenure of incoming Justice Minister Chris Said, the Parliamentary Secretariat for Local Councils had introduced a two-pronged strategy in January 2010 to tackle the problems of poor residential roads following feedback in the consultation process of the local councils’ reform.
Part of the annual financial allocation to councils was ring-fenced so it could not be used for anything other than roadworks and the upkeep of residential roads, and a public-private partnership scheme for residential roads was made available for councils.
Under this scheme, local councils were asked to list residential roads they thought were in need of rebuilding and the Department for Local Government allocated special funds for councils to rebuild these roads.
Councils are responsible for the whole process from tendering to ensuring completion, while the Department for Local Government supervises the process.
Certain localities seem to have benefited from the public-private scheme: Swieqi has completed all of the 23 rebuilds, while Birkirkara has completed seven out of 10, Imqabba 24 out of 29, and Kirkop nine of 11.
But while some councils expressed satisfaction with the strategy, others told The Sunday Times they are still struggling to cope.
Mosta council complained its annual ring-fenced budget in 2011 for the upkeep, maintenance and improvements of roads under its remit was just €35,000.
“This is not sufficient and more funds need to be allocated for this vast town. Besides the central areas with their boundaries, the Mosta council has to cater for nine zones... we have informed the Department for Local Government about the problem and asked for more funds,” a council spokesman said.
Ġzira council, which is responsible for the lower part of the terrible Testaferrata Street, said it had €70,000 ring-fenced for roads last year, but could not say how much of this it had spent because “this is still being calculated”. However, “it goes without saying that the more funds available, the better the council can administer its roads”.
St Paul’s Bay council – a constant target of criticism for poor roads – has begun to tap into funds from the public-private partnership scheme. So far just five out of 30 roads identified for rebuilding under the scheme have been completed. Mayor Graziella Galea said Gulju Street – a frequent target of criticism from readers due to potholes – “has suffered damage a number of times due to the heavy traffic flow, especially since this has now become a main bus route”. Consequently, simple resurfacing works would not be enough.
Even when funding was available, the council sometimes had to undergo long discussions with different entities or corporations before road works could begin, Ms Galea added, citing St George’s Street.
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Mr M Briffa Viva malta
Jan 9th, 19:35
We spend alot of money moving over from the UK to Gozo, although we love the island but never in my life expected to see such shambles and bad roads with pot holes galore, I even brought with us our family car of which i might add i paid through the nose for re-registering my own private car that we have already paid registration tax for back home, on top of all this my car then was in an immaculate condition when we first landing on Malta, now i wouldn't even give it away let alone exchange it for a new one due to your bad roads, some i think were even filled in with rubble and glued together until the next heavey rain fall. (Have a laugh)<To top it all up the ADT has the odasity to ask me to renew my road tax (LOL LOL) to drive on your terrible terrible road structures which some resembles the black holes of Calcutta. the rest is history as they say........ any comment form any expats =welcomed. Mike & my indoors.
J Farrugia
Jan 9th, 13:27
I blame water services, whenever they dig the road up it is never as it was again, shoddy work filing it in and a contractor who hasn't a clue how to mix tarmac and do a flat surface.
Get a foreign company in to show hos it done as we are useless at building roads.
Mario Fava
Jan 9th, 13:05
"Certain localities seem to have benefited from the public-private scheme: Swieqi has completed all of the 23 rebuilds, while Birkirkara has completed seven out of 10, Imqabba 24 out of 29, and Kirkop nine of 11."..... It is truq that the 23 roads in Madliena (Swieqi) are now completed, but only after 11 years of promises by Central Government, hard work and pressure from the residents. The Local council had to go through all the hassle and problems to see an end to this project. A project which had t be carried out by the Government long time ago.
j brincat
Jan 9th, 12:35
Paul Giordimaina
"Mr knows everything"
Just to let you know that I never attack anyone PERSONALY I just criticise the politicians (granted PN ones) but not the bloggers personally.
Mind you what can you expect from one forming he Charlantans' Brigade
And do you think that give a hoot whether you like my posts or not. Just confirms the kind of person you are and how low you can stoop!
Ha! Ha!
(jb)
Mario Cutajar
Jan 9th, 12:30
Jista' xi hadd jispjega kif f'Malta it-tappieri ikunu jew l-isfel mill-wicc tat-triq jew il-fuq. Possibbli ma nafux ninvellawhom mal wicc tat-triq?
adrian attard
Jan 9th, 12:30
please note: BALZAN VALLEY!
m borg
Jan 9th, 11:58
Igri jinbidel il-gvern xi dwejjaq ta' pajjiz.
Silvio B
Jan 9th, 09:30
The tarmac here in Malta seems to be made out of clay,it lacks of its principal elements no wonder after a rain it washes itself
Mark Zammit
Jan 9th, 08:57
How can it be that on an Island this 'BIG', with all the taxes we pay, we cannot even fix a road that will last for at least a couple of years!! How is this possible abroad and not here?? Instead of patching up a road year after year, why not do it right in the first place????? Do we need to send for the Pope??
Anthony Pace Gouder
Jan 9th, 15:41
Another problem is that most of the roads and Streets in Malta do not have an adjacent technically called 'SHOULDER' c. 2.5 m generally flanking both sides.
Their purpose is for the location of drains and other service ducts or trenches . Here services run under the road surface proper. Hence constant 'dig-ups' for maintenance ,render it impossible for our roads to be 'at par' or standard with those in Developed Countries.
Timothy Cachia
Jan 9th, 08:53
Prevention is better than cure as they say.
If roads were done properly from day 1 we would not have to spend or waste time fixing the rubbish roads we have in this country.
Borg Joseph
Jan 9th, 07:56
Allocating more funds without ensuring their proper use through serious and professional road-repair would simply be a waste of public funds, as has been going on for decades. Most roads/streets are in shambles due to poor 'maintenance' and lack of proper patching, especially when it comes to works on underlying water services, which works have ruined everywhere.
Is it time we stop nagging and smarten up our act? Or shall we continue to waste precious funds that could be used much more productively?
Ray Buhagiar
Jan 9th, 07:55
Have a look at the photo. There is no side canal and one wonders how the road foundation was made. Perhaps the road engineers could explain through a press conference.
Charles W. Sammut
Jan 9th, 08:58
What road engineers? They don't even know how to build a road so that water runs off to the edges. How many roads do you see with huge pools of water in the middle? Never mind such niceties like culverts and proper camber on corners.
Ray Buhagiar
Jan 9th, 07:52
Bad planning by our road engineers. They should know better.
j brincat
Jan 9th, 07:51
It's better that the money we waste on local councils are invested in our pitiful state of our roads!
(jb)
Paul Giordimaina
Jan 9th, 09:47
Mr knows everything
John Cassar
Jan 9th, 07:25
A textbook example is Triq il-kortin in Mellieha. This main road (under central government's jurisdiction) resembles a war zone whilst the side roads (under the local council 's jurisdiction) are nicely asphalted.
mark tonna
Jan 9th, 07:15
i-mosta tal-wej it-toroq dizastru, diga irrapurtajt lis sindku is sena lohra u ghadna hekk!!!
Michael Borg
Jan 9th, 07:13
Maybe they should spend less money on things to help shops and usless activities and spend them on road repair !!! do they publish every cent they spend ? so when something is done we can see the cost !! not by an auditor but published on the website so that at Midnight i can scruntinze the spending !!my self and not incuring cost of an auditor who s charges arfe tal BIZA !!!
John Sant
Jan 8th, 17:57
allinqas il kunisilli imsemmijja qed jippruvaw jamlu xi haga. haz-zebbug hemm triq partikolari li ilu jigi mwieghed li ser issir il fuq minn 20 sena u issa adu ma sar xejn.
minn fuq meta kien hemm min mar il kunsill ifittex kunpens ta 2 rimmijiet u bumper (fuq karozza normali u mhux armata) qalulu li ma kinux responsabbli huma tad danni.
M Sammut
Jan 8th, 20:25
De Rohan Road of Haz Zebbug is a mess
It's like we were bombarded by planes seriously, already damaged 2 rims in a year
John Sant
Jan 8th, 22:10
hdejn it-triq tiegħi, triq de rohan vera lixxa u komda bix issuq fiha. hemm tappiera minnhom li jekk taddi minn fuq tolqotlek il qiegh.
connie mifsud
Jan 8th, 12:47
ref: potholes it is a disgrace driving from mellieha to valletta potholes which you cannot avoid if you do not want to end up in the other direction.....yes i damaged 2 wheels which have cost me 400euros just for the wheels and then another 120euros for the tyres. transport malta wake up some accidents are happening becouse of these potholes..
Michael Scicluna
Jan 8th, 10:08
May I bring to your attention that Triq Gulju has always been a major traffic route for buses, in the old Bus Schedule there were about 10 routes that used this road, now only three routes use it and in the winter traffic drops down by 60% on the St Paul’s Bay inner roads, because there are less residents in the winter. When Triq Gulju was resurface about two years ago it should have been done up to standard. This is not only in St Paul’s' Bay it is the same issue almost all over Malta, I travel a lot around Malta and I know what I am saying, but my main interest is St Paul's Bay. I am not a road builder or designer, but we used to have canals along roads to take most of the rain water and the surface domed to channel the water to these canals maybe this will avoid the rain water not to be drained directly underneath the road surface, i stand to be corrected. How it is other countries manage to have less paddles in there roads, maybe someone should ask about this. Let's Love Where We Live and Make It Shinning. If we stop criticizing nothing will ever get done because that is how one gets to know about these mishaps.
Mr Kent Mcveighn
Jan 8th, 09:42
I am German and the only reason we have pot holes is because of the frost in winter. Water get's into the tarmac and expands when it becomes ice.
Well, there is no ice in Malta...
It is still unknown to me why in Malta rarely any road has a canalization system so the water floats down the site or underneath. This way, there is a chance that a road does not become a fast flowing stream every time it rains. What also helps is proper foundation for the road.
Chris Xuereb
Jan 8th, 22:33
Exactly! Also, poor planning is also a factor. When a newly surfaced road is torn up because some stupid person forgets that certain services needed to be layed and then it is tarmaced again the result is potholes. Patch work is only a temporary fix but here in Malta temporary tends to be a lifetime!
Stephen Zammit
Jan 9th, 10:10
Another reason pot holes are created is the overloading they are given. Apart from the frequent use, there is nobody controlling how much trucks are laden and through which roads, HGV's can pass.
Abroad this problem is taken very seriously, for eg in America an overladen truck can mean the suspension of the driver's license! The overloading cracks the tarmac and these develop into pot holes with water and wear and tear.