Yet another deadline has been missed on the construction of the St Paul's Bay bypass as plastic barriers continue to divert traffic on the road that was meant to be completed by August.

A spokesman for the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) said the works per se had been completed but that a part of the road was found to be uneven and, therefore, had to be redone.

The spokesman added that embankment stabilisation works were being carried out in private land nearby and the barriers were being retained so that no damage would be caused to the road surface. The barriers would only be removed once the private developer produced the necessary certification. The ADT washed its hands of the issue and said that since the works were unconnected to the reconstruction of the bypass, the certification had to be given by the developer's architect and civil engineer.

The Roads Ministry said last May that the deadline for the repairs was set for August 2008 - the latest in a long list of deadlines given by the authorities over the years.

The bypass first collapsed in 2000, following illegal excavations carried out in land, adjacent to the bypass, belonging to Polidano Brothers.

It took the ADT seven years to get the company to assume responsibility last year. Reconstruction of the road began in 2007 when the government said it would hold the developers to account for the Lm500,000 estimated damages they had caused.

In July 2007, the developers accepted to repair the road at their own expense "unconditionally" and said that the road was to be completed by September of the same year. Yet, 12 months later, traffic is still being diverted.