The mayor of St Paul’s Bay, which every year spends more than €500,000 to keep the area clean, is calling on the government to help out with the upkeep of the locality.

Graziella Galea made the appeal after this newspaper published an article about litter and infrastructural issues in the locality.

She noted that St Paul’s Bay was one of the few localities where domestic waste was collected seven days a week all year round, including on public holidays.

The local council also offered a service for the collection of bulky refuse at least three times weekly by appointment and collected garbage “dumped illegally by irresponsible people”.

Asked about the promenade, which often features in residents’ complaints, Ms Galea said rubbish from the front was collected twice daily by Government Cleansing Department employees.

The council, she noted, spent about €1,400 daily on cleansing services around the locality.

The biggest problem was irresponsible people who defeated efforts put in by the council and by the vast majority of law-abiding residents who disposed of their rubbish at the requested times, she said. Nobody was caught dumping illegally when undercover wardens were engaged in past months, the mayor added.

She believes the centralisation of enforcement was “causing problems” for local councils and she called for “proper” enforcement.

“One has to keep in mind that our locality has close to 300 streets and the fact that most are kept clean indicates that areas with problems reflect the attitude of certain residents or visitors,” she said.

“Although it is a well-known fact that St Paul’s Bay reaches a population of about 60,000 people during summer, no additional funding is provided to ensure extra services by the council,” Ms Galea added.

Some of the items dumped illegally around the locality and which were removed by the local council.

St Paul’s Bay is popular with local residents and tourists alike and commercial establishments are always buzzing with activity. These too had to shoulder some responsibility, she said.

While many kept the area around them clean, other establishments did not bother, the mayor said, and although they were supposed to employ their own rubbish collection contractors, they disposed of their garbage alongside domestic waste.

The perpetual litter problem is not the only issue that bothers St Paul’s Bay residents, who have also complained of infrastructural shortcomings.

Ms Galea noted that, unfortunately, uneven pavements were a reality across the islands: “This is mostly the result of garages or buildings constructed at different road levels.

“When it comes to paving stones, the local council carries out maintenance work continuously,” she noted.

One of the council’s “greatest challenges” was work that should be carried out by the same entities doing repairs, she added. Footpaths in front of construction sites were sometimes not left in good shape.

Ms Galea questioned the action taken by authorities who, she said, should be ensuring the safety of construction sites and adjoining areas. She said that, because of limited funds, works were often limited to maintenance and not reconstruction.

Estimates for infrastructural work ran into millions of euros and the government had, so far, not reacted to support and provide the necessary money, Ms Galea said.

“I have insisted with the tourism zones committee that priority is given to the road network within our locality. For example, money collected from the 50c eco-tax by the tourism sector could be directed towards investment in the locality’s infrastructure.

“I have also made requests to the infrastructure and tourism ministries to carry out work on prime roads in the locality. Yet, so far, no successful reply was received. It is impossible for the local council, with its very limited funding, to carry out any such projects running into millions of euros.”

Ms Galea appealed to the central government to invest more in the locality, especially the roads. Roads flagged to the government include the Promenade, the service road in Pioneer Road, Sacred Heart and Tourist streets and the main St Paul’s Bay road.