The Sliema local council cannot keep up with road maintenance expenses, with one road embellishment costing three times the available funds for the whole locality.
The town, popular with tourists and locals alike, is allocated €238,859 yearly for “road maintenance”, which includes some €40,000 for the general upkeep of street lighting. The remaining €200,000 is spent on road and pavement maintenance.
Asked whether the allocated funding covered the locality’s needs, mayor Anthony Chircop told this newspaper that this was “absolutely not the case”.
It is impossible for the local council to carry out such projects running into millions of euros
“In fact, the Sliema council has been insisting all along that the present funds allocation formula needs reviewing and updating to reflect today’s needs, and should be based on present demographics,” the mayor said. The council has so far been unsuccessful in securing alternative funds from the government or EU programmes.
One major street that is used by many commuters and needs upgrading is the stretch of Manuel Dimech Street between The Strand and Rudolph Street.
“Estimates based on the cost per square metre of other road resurfacing works which were carried out in the last couple of years would easily hit the astronomical figure of €600,000. This does not include tunnelling and road reconstruction works,” Mr Chircop said.
The Sliema council is responsible for all the streets in the locality, including the six-kilometre stretch along Tower Road, around Qui-Si-Sana to the Strand. None of Sliema’s streets fall under government responsibility, Mr Chircop said. His appeal echoes that of the mayor of St Paul’s Bay – another hotspot.
Mayor Graziella Galea told this newspaper that estimates for infrastructural work ran into the millions of euros and the government had, so far, not reacted to support and provide the necessary money.
She has insisted to the tourism zones committee that priority should be given to the road network within St Paul’s Bay, suggesting that the 50c eco-tax collected from the tourism sector could be directed towards investment in the locality’s infrastructure.
“I have also made requests to the infrastructure and tourism ministries to carry out work on prime roads in the locality.
“Yet so far, no successful reply has been received. It is impossible for the local council, with its very limited funding, to carry out any such projects running into millions of euros.”