Residents of Ta’ Giorni say they are victims of poor planning as no one takes responsibility for atrocious roads – where not even rubbish trucks dare to venture. Jacob Borg went down to the site.

Rats, muddy pot-holed roads and a no-go zone for rubbish trucks were not in the sales pitch when families moved into two big residential developments in St Julian’s above the Regional Road tunnels.

But the families have found themselves in a quagmire, both legal and literal, after paying upwards of €250,000 per apartment.

During a meeting held on site yesterday with the St Julian’s local council, infuriated residents were told that neither the council nor Transport Malta were taking responsibility for the mess.

St Julian’s mayor Guido Dalli told families that the road, which resembles a country lane, did not qualify for government funding as not enough residents lived in the area.

Numerous residents say they have seen massive rodents feasting on the rubbish and running riot in the nearby fields

Resident Christine Copperstone questioned how the Planning Authority could give the go-ahead for such developments without ensuring that the necessary infrastructure for residents was put in place.

“Why go abroad on safari to Kenya when you can come here,” she quipped.

Ms Copperstone asked why families should be the victims of poor planning.

Apart from the treacherous condition of the road, which turns into a bog in winter and a dust bowl in summer, families also have to navigate the various hazards by torchlight due to the total lack of street lighting.

Even something as simple as rubbish collection is an uphill struggle for these residents. The rubbish collectors refuse to come down to the road due to its atrocious state.

Where the collectors have failed, the rats have succeeded. Numerous residents say they have seen massive rodents feasting on the rubbish and running riot in the nearby fields.

Families have now been instructed to deposit their rubbish at a central collection point several streets away from where they live.

The mayor says he offered to place skips outside the two blocks against a small fee, but the residents want the same pick-up service offered in other localities.

Concern for children

Sarah Azzopardi, a mother of two young children, told this paper that Transport Malta had brushed off residents’ concerns about the dust hazard, by saying it was their problem as they chose to go and live there.

“As a mother, my concern is for my child. During winter it is muddy and during summer the road turns to dust. The houses are just full of dust. If the houses are full of dust, then our children’s lungs are full of dust as well,” Ms Azzopardi said.

A garden view?

People in one of the two residential blocks claim they were promised by contractor Rudolph Azzopardi that the area around their property would be embellished by an idyllic garden.

The reality is very different. Families who moved in almost a year ago are still living on a permanent construction site.

Moving into what they thought was a completed residential unit, they soon discovered that the contractor had been granted an additional permit to build a penthouse.

The entrance to the common area is strewn with dust. Construction material has been dumped in an adjacent field. Residents fear that rainfall could see the collapse of an unprotected soil and stone mound above street level right near their property.

The residents appeared to have put a lot of trust in those who sold them the properties

Faced with pressure yesterday from angry residents, the mayor phoned the contractor for an attempt at mediation.

Mr Dalli told residents after the call that the contractor had agreed to clear up the site once construction on the penthouse was done by the end of the year.

Deputy mayor Albert Buttigieg told The Sunday Times of Malta that residents appeared to have been misled by the seller about the embellishment works in the surrounding area.

Mr Buttigieg said the person who sold these properties had an obligation to be upfront with residents about the situation.

“The residents appeared to have put a lot of trust in those who sold them the properties. I feel they were somewhat misled. In reality what they were promised has not come to fruition.

“The residents knew the situation in the area before they moved in,” Mr Buttigieg said.

Mr Buttigieg said the local council was willing to support the residents’ concerns in order to place pressure on the authorities to sort out the road.

Contacted by The Sunday Times of Malta, the contractor said he was only responsible for what happened from the building line inwards.

He said the road in question was a private road not his. Mr Azzopardi added that there was nothing in the residents’ contracts about a garden.