I was saddened to read of the passing away of Ċikku Dingli, one of the last surviving links with the construction of the Portes des Bombes flyover.

Ċikku had a cowshed in Santa Venera and Salvu Guillaumier, who represented Gifford-Udall, one of the pioneer prestressed concrete firms, associated with him and Raymond Mintoff in a bid for the Portes des Bombes bridge. They had Louis Naudi as their architect.

Against the advice of some of my Public Works Department superiors, I liked the system as it gave me a very lean construction depth that was called for in the very restricted area.

In our initial tests, with imported sand, we could not produce concrete of the required strength. Ċikku produced a pan mixer, which enabled us to work with a very low water-cement ratio, and we were in business.

We had some teething troubles, however, in the unlikeliest of settings, we produced a bridge that has already served the country for 57 years and shows no signs of fatigue.

The whole flyover project had cost some £65,000!

Ċikku went on with pre-stressed concrete ventures and acquired the soubriquet of “tal-prestressed”. I am sure he will improve on the pearly gates!