Works on the Żabbar-Marsascala section of the National Flood Relief Project are expected to be finished by next August.

Speaking during a visit to the project’s main site at Wied il-Għajn Road in Żabbar, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi said it would offer a final solution to the chronic flooding that had plagued the two towns.

“This is a realistic solution and should run on time to be completed this time next year,” Mr Mizzi said, adding that the scheduled works would have close to no effect on passing traffic as they would mainly be carried out underground.

Project coordinator Karm Mifsud Borg said special safety measures would still have to be taken as most of the works would run along the arterial road.

This is a realistic solution and should run on time to be completed this time next year

The works, which began last month, form part of a larger project aimed at both limiting damage caused by heavy rainfall and conserving as much water as possible for agricultural use.

The whole National Flood Relief Project should conserve some 700,000 cubic metres of rainwater, which will be collected in reservoirs across the island.

Mr Mizzi said the three-metre-wide underground tunnel in the Żabbar-Marsascala project would cost €6 million, 85 per cent of which has been funded by the EU Cohesion Fund.

The 3.2-kilometre-long tunnel will funnel rainwater that normally gathers in Żabbar centre to an outfall site near Għar id-Duħħan, in the limits of Marsascala, near Żonqor Point.

Mr Mifsud Borg said this segment alone should conserve some 63,000 cubic metres of water every year.