The government is conducting studies on possible public sector involvement in road maintenance, the prime minister said this morning.

He said the government will not introduce road tolls, but it is exploring models for the involvement of the private sector in road maintenance.

Yesterday, Dr Muscat said Malta needed to upgrade its infrastructure, notably the roads. He described it as the government's next challenge after having tackled problems in the energy and health sectors.

Meanwhile, replying to questions in parliament in the evening, Transport Minister Joe Mizzi said road tolls had never been discussed or considered.

He said he understood the people's frustrations about the state of the roads. The government wanted to perform more road works, but, he said, it was unfair that he was blamed for roads which were promised five years ago or more. 

Road works, he said, were conditioned by the available funds, and the government was therefore discussing PPPs as a way to increase the capacity for more road works. He said more equipment had been imported for road surfacing with hot asphalt.

The questions were put by Nationalist MPs Jason Azzopardi and Marthese Portelli.