A new rapid response team will help local councils deal with cleanliness and basic maintenance, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this evening.

Speaking during a political rally in Qawra, Dr Muscat said local councils often needed assistance when it came to coping with the upkeep of their locality. He said areas such as St Paul's Bay were often heavily littered because of the influx of visitors.

The new response team, he said, would not be taking over councils' responsibility to clean up but would be assisting.

Dr Muscat said St Paul's Bay was a locality in which the Labour Party did not normally fare well when it came to council elections. The last round of elections saw a labour council elected to the locality for the first time in several years, and, Dr Muscat said, he was more than satisfied with the work the council had done.

He said that to help bolster the areas tourism package in the off season, hthe government had arranged form a BBC music festival to be held in St Paul's Bay during Easter week.

Turning to the state of the island's road network, Dr Muscat said he was not happy with the majority of roads and felt the people deserved better.

He said the government was still mulling over the best ways to introduce a public private partnership for road maintenance, and hoped this would alleviate the burden on councils.

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