When the last phase of the Marsascala bypass project is completed, hopefully within few weeks, and the green light is given for traffic to start flowing again, few will appreciate what went into the job and what lies beneath the smooth surface and by the side of the 3,050-metre-long road.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Communications explained that a major phase of the project consisted in having sewage flow by gravity (downstream) without the need of pumps. Therefore, a trench had to be excavated at a greater depth.

The spokesman explained that the original plans were to divert the sewer through the valley from behind Ir-Razzett tal-Ħbiberija.

"However, when WasteServ submitted the plans with Mepa for the proposed Family Park, it was decided that the existing soil should not be disturbed because the place had previously been used as a landfill and could, therefore, still have hazardous material. "Thus, the alternative was to run the sewer through the road. There were two options: either the introduction of a pump to push the sewage or to excavate further in order to allow the sewage to flow by gravity, that is downstream. The second option was preferred", said the spokesman.

Due to the fact that a trench nine metres deep had to be excavated to allow flow by gravity and since no excavators able to dig up to such a depth are available, given the width of the trench, this had to be widened for the excavator to be able to reach the nine-metre level.

It was also decided that the newly-excavated trench should include a walk-through service culvert, an Enemalta earth mat, which earths the system, storm water ducts and Water Services Corporation pipes. A reservoir is also being constructed.

The spokesman noted that as work was being carried out workers had to deal with the foundations of the road, laid during the Labour government, which was composed of hard soil, broken tiles and even scrapped cars.

Excavation works are now complete, all services have been laid and the reinstatement of the road level is in progress. Work on the last phase, including services on one side of the build-up area, near the HSBC branch, is almost complete.

The spokesman said that although the target date was the end of April, the contractor was entitled for some days of delay due to archaeological finds and bad weather last winter, particularly in February and March 2009. However, the spokesman insisted that work was progressing according to schedule and in line with the budget and was continuously monitored by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, Austin Gatt.