The cost of repairing a Birkirkara road dubbed by one resident as “one of Malta’s worst streets” would be double the local council’s annual €1 million budget.
Birkirkara resident Matthew Borg expressed his exasperation with the local council and Transport Malta after suffering damage to his car while passing through one of Bontadini Street’s many “four-inch potholes”.
Mr Borg said that nobody had shouldered responsibility for the damage caused to his car due to the poor road surface.
The Birkirkara resident suffered damage to both his car tyre and rim while driving through the street.
He said that he had been complaining about the dire state of the road for two years, yet his complaints had fallen on deaf ears.
In reply to an e-mail sent to Mr Borg, local councillor and former Birkirkara mayor Michael Fenech Adami blamed the government for shelving plans for a public-private partnership to repair the road.
Whatever is necessary for a locality is done only in the locality’s interest, regardless of the said majority
Mr Fenech Adami said that Transport Malta had approved funds for the project, which he said was dropped after the change in government.
An irate Mr Borg took the local councillor to task over his reply.
He told Mr Fenech Adami that he was bewildered how even such a simple issue of common benefit to the village would end up politicised.
“That is why I personally can never agree that local councils are labelled blue, red or green because whatever is necessary for a locality is done only in the locality’s interest, regardless of the said majority,” Mr Borg said.
Mr Borg then contacted Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo who said that the road fell within the remit of the local council.
Notwithstanding this, Mr Piscopo said that Transport Malta was willing to help out in securing “central and specific funding” for the road. Mr Piscopo said Transport Malta had looked into the cheaper option of scarifying the road’s surface and applying a new asphalt surface layer, but had decided against it due to the severe depressions and structural damage the road sustained.
He put the damage down to neglect over the years, lack of proper maintenance and utility interventions for house connections.
Birkirkara executive secretary Neil Spiteri informed Mr Piscopo that the reconstruction of roads, particularly those costing €2 million, was outside the remit of any local council.
“Just to put you in perspective, to finance such a road we will need to stop every service for two years since our annual budget is only around €1 million,” Mr Spiteri told the Transport Malta CEO.
Mr Piscopo has agreed to meet the local council to discuss a solution to the problem.