Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi told Parliament this evening that road repairs with hot asphalt had achieved better, longer-lasting results in a nationwide situation that was “very precarious”.

Answering a question by opposition MP Charlò Bonnici, the minister said that people’s perception that Transport Malta was responsible for the maintenance of the complete road network was wrong.

Out of the current 1,300km of roads on the network, TM was responsible for the resurfacing and maintenance of just 200km of arterial, major and first-time resurfacing.

Other roads were variously the responsibility of local councils and Malta Industrial Parks, but when major difficulties cropped up the tendency was to shift that responsibility on to his ministry.
Mr Mizzi said a special unit had been set up to roam the roads for 12 hours daily and report on conditions.

If councils and MIP could not manage the works, the ministry handled them itself and then charged for expenses, which could be high when work was urgent.

The historical use of cold asphalt to patch up roads had invariably gone with the first subsequent rains, with new potholes appearing. Experimentation with hot asphalt by two groups had achieved much better results, and the number of such gangs was being increased.

Mr Mizzi said local councils were charged 30 per cent of the cost of wages and the full cost of materials. The new system had been so satisfactory that there was now a huge demand for such works.