Residents of Spinola Road in St Julian’s will finally be able to breathe easy when their street is given a layer of asphalt, after having to endure months of dust because work on the resurfacing project had stalled.

The irate residents had been gathering signatures for a petition.

St Julian’s mayor Peter Bonello said issues with the final phase of the local council project were solved.

He said Transport Malta was issueing a permit for the contractor to resurface the road and work will get underway immediately, to be completed within a week.

Residents said the project had started in October but then stalled over the Christmas period and in the run-up to the election.

They said the situation was “something you see in a third-world country”, adding they could not understand why the council was taking so long to finish the project.

When it rained, they said, the street became muddy and it was “embarrassing” seeing tourists walking through it.

Mr Bonello said water and sewage mains had been replaced and new rainwater culverts passed. What was left was the resurfacing, which could not be delayed due to the imminent tourist season.

He said he understood the frustration of residents and tourists but inconvenience could not be eliminated completely with roadworks.