The Infrastructure Ministry is engaging another contractor to complete the road works at Cospicua seafront because of unacceptable delays by the original contractor, the ministry said.

"Minister Austin Gatt has issued a ministerial order for the immediate engagement of another contractor to complete the road works between Sta Tereza Street and  Triq ix-Xatt ta’ Bormla," the ministry said.

The work by the new contractor will start on Tuesday and will be completed within three weeks.

Therefore Holy Week activities will not be affected, the ministry said.

The ministry said that it is also engaged in talks with the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation and the Contracts Department for the removal of the contractor responsible for the Dock 1 area rehabilitation project and for a solution to be found so that this project may be completed.    

The delays in the completion of the project and the inconvenience caused to motorists and pedestrians have been the source of frequent complaint.

LABOUR LEADER'S 'SOLIDARITY' WITH RESIDENTS

Labour leader Joseph Muscat said the government had made its announcement when it learnt about the Labour press conference. He expressed solidarity with the residents over the inconvenience of the project, recalling that an elderly woman had also died after tripping in a trench in the street.

He said the project had a history of missed deadlines and the government should have acted earlier to see the project completed.

He also noted that the project would reduce 60 parking places, even though it was meant to attract visitors.

Work, he said, started in January last year when it was meant to start in 2009, and since then it had proceeded intermittently.

Charles Buhagiar, Opposition spokesman on public works, said the project was meant for completion at the end of last year and then the prime minister had said it would be ready in April. But much work remained to be done before the project was completed.

Caroline Said, writing in The Times two days ago on behalf of the Friends of Cottonera Forum said:

"It has been a year now since the Dock One regeneration project was launched. For residents it has been a year of dust storms throughout summer which, together with the dug-up main road, butchered trees and half-demolished walls, made the area look more of a war zone than anything that was being televised at the time from the Libyan uprising.

It has been a year of floods throughout the winter making the area look like one huge swamp. Half the original parking bays have been removed resulting in something resembling a dodgem rink of cars, bumper to bumper in whatever available space can be found.

Local businesses are suffering, residents are greatly inconvenienced by the dreadful mess, the Cospicua regatta club premises has suffered from flooding as well as damage to its boats from having to drag them across debris. The litany of damage, distress and disruption goes on and on.

April 2012, the month when the project was scheduled to be completed, is just around the corner. The completion date has now been postponed to September so residents can look forward to another summer of mayhem. And a September completion date is really pie-in-the-sky, wishful thinking considering the enormity of the remaining works and the fact that one would be lucky to see any more than six workers on site.

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