The government did not keep its promise to build new roads, a Labour Party spokesman and four Labour mayors complained yesterday.

“In 2006, the government sent residents of various towns and villages a leaflet mentioning the roads it was going to do by 2008,” said the PL spokesman for local councils Stefan Buontempo, but only a fraction of them had been done and a large percentage of them were in Nationalist-leaning localities, he added.

Standing in Fgura’s Wesgħet Ġużeppi Gauci, Dr Buontempo was joined by Fgura mayor Byron Camilleri, Żabbar mayor Dominic Agius, Gżira mayor Chris Bonnet and Żebbuġ mayor Alfred Grixti. They outlined the problems faced by their localities due to the failure by the government to carry out road works. Many of the roads mentioned in the leaflet, in which live hundreds of residents, had either not been done or were now beyond repair, they said.

“The roads get worse in winter due to the weather,” Mr Agius said.

“Dust, mud and asthma become the order of the day,” Mr Bonnet continued.