The government told us it would spend €100 million to fix the roads and re-arrange existing ones in a bid to have traffic move as smooth as possible.

The whole island warrants immediate attention. The government must realise, that, given the number of vehicles on the road, the quality of construction has to improve dramatically. Although equipment is not lacking, flaws abound in the construction of roads.

Insufficient tarmac is used on some roads, resulting in cracks or depressions (example Tower Road, Sliema). If the road is wide, the joint where the layers of tarmac meet is not done neatly. The tarmac used does not contain the proper-sized material that helps make braking much better. Woe betide you if you happen be on any road during the first rain. It is an insurance company’s nightmare.

Transport Malta personnel must surely be wondering from where to start. They are held accountable but had no control over the quality of the road works. Nobody speaks of maintenance and in the rare occasions this happens, the work is slipshod.

What the authorities seem to overlook is that if the roads were built the proper way, as happens abroad, there would be fewer problems, less need for maintenance and, of course, less costs.

Unfortunately, none of the two big political parties ever took the quality of roads seriously. They did not even consider that life or limb may be at risk. They did not bother about the possible increase in road accidents and neither the damage all vehicles sustain.

Costs can also be controlled and quality maintained if there is better coordination between Transport Malta and the ministries responsible for the utilities. The result is laying a new surface on a road one day and digging it up again a few days later and then redoing it in a sloppy way.

In my humble opinion €100 million will not suffice to do the job right. All our roads require a great deal of tender loving care.

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