It’s unfortunate for government that Google Street View has just conquered and annexed Malta. We now have a record – in millimetrically-accurate high resolution – of what the country’s roads are like. For incoming Minister Ian Borg, it’s a constant reminder of what remains to be done in view of Labour’s promise that all roads will be fixed by 2024.
In Muscatese, Borg is a results-driven doer who hits the ground uninjured and running, and delivers on target. Which means we can expect forests of billboards that inform us about the state of the art (and the apotheosis of the artist). We can expect roundabouts to sprout up overnight like crop circles, and a sea of geraniums and pansies to do some more sprouting. Above all, we can expect seven years of triumphalism by tarmac.
Neither Borg nor Labour have a monopoly on the sweet political dividends of roads and roadworks. I lived in Mumbai at a time when a right-wing Hindu party called the Shiv Sena was part of the Vajpayee coalition that governed India. The Sena (‘army’) had a record of jingoism, violence and intimidation. Curious why it was so popular, I often asked people why they supported it. The usual reply was that the Shiv Sena had built many flyovers.
By any standards, Malta is exceptionally ripe in this department. Asked in survey after survey what they consider to be the country’s gravest problem, the majority of Maltese people choose the state of the roads.
The other day a journalist from One television spent some time asking people on the Buġibba front what they thought of the resurfaced road. Quite apart from the weirdness of the assignment (why should a lack of potholes make the news?), the people interviewed all said that the whole thing was marvellous. A rich political seam to mine, in other words.
It’s telling that the man chosen for the manly job is Borg. Muscat has said that he will not contest another election. That makes his political life look like a personal project, but never mind. The point is that we are set for a repeat of 1982, when Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici became designate leader of the Labour Party and effectively designate Prime Minister.
It is reasonable to suppose that Muscat will have mentally shortlisted two or three names. It is also reasonable to suppose that Borg’s is among them. He has been groomed for higher power ever since he proved himself a capable mayor of his village. The only thing that works against him is his age. Muscat is understandably rather proud of having clinched the top job at 39, and Borg will be 35 in four years’ time.
Construction is possibly the single biggest contributor to our smashed-up roads
It is relevant that Borg has in the past worked on EU funding. We were once promised that the EU and its money would bring about a Great Leap Forward on roads. Through no fault of Borg’s it must be said, all we got was a few kilometres of pansied perfection. It’s now his turn for another stab at it.
Except there’s a problem. While it is doable for government (or the EU, or whoever) to bling up some choice roads as a kind of vanity project, the total refurbishment of the thousands of kilometres of streets and roads in seven (or 70) years isn’t.
Let’s set logistical matters aside. Let’s assume that the length of Borg’s day is comparable to that on certain other planets. Let’s assume he can find the human resources, materials and machinery. Let’s also assume that the level of inconvenience to drivers won’t be such that people set up camp beds at work, in the manner of Bonaparte. Leave all of that aside, and still the task at hand would be impossible.
First, roads are not a sectioned space. Rather, they are simply more of the same – in tarmac perhaps, and serving a special purpose, but still very much part of the general built environment. It follows that it is not reasonable to expect good roads in a country which is a shambolic mess of half-built structures, unresolved party walls (appoġġi), twisted barriers, parked boats, fields used as car parks, and so on.
Last September I spent some time driving in Portugal. The roads were largely magnificent, but then so was the built environment generally. Coming back to Malta felt like such a mess, I wrote a column about culture shock.
I’m not even sure things are getting any better. For example, the section of road between Burmarrad and St Paul’s Bay was until a few years ago a fairly placid stretch. It is now a dusty, noisy and jumbled chaos, as businesses of all sorts have spilled over and reduced the effective road to one-lane madness.
The second reason why Borg has his work cut out for him has its roots in the activity that makes our economy the best in Europe, the envy of the world, and such. Construction is possibly the single biggest contributor to our smashed-up roads.
Now while construction-on-steroids was not invented by Muscat’s Labour, there is certainly more of it going on. Indeed, the wide and easy availability of construction work is touted as a litmus of government’s success.
Which leaves us with a curious creature: a pledge to refurbish roads, by a government that encourages an activity that systematically destroys roads. The suspension boggles.
mafalzon@hotmail.com