Improving the road infrastructure will be the main focus of the government’s first Budget after the election, the Prime Minister said.

The Budget will lay out government’s plan to set up a new agency tasked to build, improve and maintain roads, in what Joseph Muscat described as “a game-changer”.

Speaking on One Radio this morning, Dr Muscat said the agency would be set up at the start of next year and will be responsible for government’s ambitious target to resurface or redo all roads in seven years.

He said the Budget would be one of continuation in the same vein as the budgets of the past four years. It would start implementing the electoral manifesto and roads would be a priority, he added.

Over recent days Transport Minister Ian Borg earmarked several roads that will be redone over the coming months, however, the Prime Minister said this was only a small part of the wider picture.

“From next year we will embark on a capacity building exercise because we want to go for a game-changer. We will create a new structure to build and manage our roads, including repairs,” Dr Muscat said.

Without giving further details, he said preparatory meetings were underway to set up “a serious road management” structure.

Once the proposed structure was in place, he added, the government could embark on its seven-year plan for all Malta’s roads.

On last week’s statistics that showed the country registered a surplus in the first few months of the year, Dr Muscat said this confirmed the surplus registered last year was no fluke.