Roadworks and trenching are exempt from the blanket ban on excavation and demolition work in tourist zones throughout the summer, Times of Malta has learnt.
Every year, such works are prohibited between June 15 and September 30, but the same legal notice contains several exemptions.
The legal notice states that all construction work involving trenching of ducts not exceeding three metres deep are exempt from the ban if they are used for the installation of infrastructure related to the provision of water, sewerage services, storm water discharges, electrical energy and telecommunications.
Sources said the exemption covers all roadworks, both urgent as well as those that are planned.
A spokeswoman for the Buildings Regulations Office, which is the department that enforces this legal notice, was asked about exemptions following roadworks that began last week in Wied Għomor Street, St Julian’s.
The roadworks angered residents and business owners in the area, which attracts thousands of people to watch World Cup matches in Spinola Bay.
Most complaints related to the timing of the project, which provided water and sewerage services to a newly built block of flats close by.
The work was stopped by the Tourism Ministry after Times of Malta carried a story quoting residents and business owners complaining that the timing “could not have been any worse”.
The trenching and drainage works filled the surrounding areas with dust.
No replies were received to questions on whether the exemptions also covered non-urgent excavation works and why mitigating measures such as spraying water to contain the dust were not used in the St Julian’s case.
According to the same legal notice, works must be given the green light by the Malta Tourism Authority “following consultation with representatives of tourism establishments in the affected area”.
However, Dre Mifsud and Robert Agius, who run Ryan’s Pub, said they had not been told about the project, let alone consulted.
The spokeswoman did not reply to this question either.
mxuereb@timesofmalta.com