Government entities responsible for roadworks were ignoring local councils and riding roughshod over residents, Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat lamented on Tuesday. 

“It’s one thing to take roadwork responsibilities away from councils, but why are the authorities taking away respect too?” he asked. 

Mr Muscat contacted the Times of Malta after road markings had been changed without residents or the council being made aware. 

Large concrete barriers were placed along one of the locality’s main roads, and traffic flows were being changed without “the decency of letting us know first”.  

“We face a situation where residents are coming to us to ask why the road network has been changed, and we don’t know what to tell them,” he said.  

Mr Muscat said he had contacted both Infrastructure Malta and Transport Malta after roadworks had started but had not heard back despite his repeated complaints and queries. 

Local councils, he said, had a role to play in coordinating the government’s overhaul of the country’s road network, and life in their locality. 

Residents are coming to us to ask why the road network has been changed, and we don’t know what to tell them

The ambitious €700 million, seven-year plan to resurface all of the island’s roads was one of Labour’s grandest electoral pledges, and work has been rolling on since late 2017.  

The authorities have prioritised residential roads that have never been freshly asphalted and others that sorely needed seeing to.  

However, the government’s policy of steamrolling over regulations and concerns raised by motorists and residents has raised a few eyebrows. 

Mr Muscat said he was more than willing to cooperate with the authorities as well as with architects and contractors involved in roadworks to ensure smooth sailing for all involved. 

“We just want to be kept abreast of what is going on to be able to direct residents and inform them. Is that too much to ask?” he asked.  

Mr Muscat said he had even gone to the Planning Authority to ask to be notified if any permits for roadworks were issued, but had so far not been updated.