Environmentalist Alfred Baldacchino has raised concerns that country paths in Wied l-Isqof and Wied is-Sewda are being turned into “highways”.

Government workers have been spotted in both areas in recent days, pouring concrete over the country lanes, damaging flora and fauna on both sides of the paths in a bid to widen them.

Sources familiar with the works said they were ostensibly taking place to improve accessibility for farmers.

Mr Baldacchino argued that the works would actually have a detrimental effect on farmers due to the increased traffic that could now pass through the lanes.

He warned that the concrete paths are, in some places, lower than the foundation of the rubble walls, which could eventually lead to their collapse.

Mr Baldacchino lamented that the valley bed had been turned into a gutter, with a concrete road taking its place.

Pictures of the works show concrete spilling off the side of the road into a water gulley on the side of the country lane.

Concrete poured onto the country lanes has spilled over into a gulley in Wied l-Isqof.

Concrete paths are lower than the foundation of the rubble walls

Mr Baldacchino quipped in a blog post that biodiversity destruction in Malta was now synonymous with the works being undertaken by the Transport Ministry.

Why are lanes being paved?

In reply to questions by the Times of Malta, an Infrastructure Malta spokesman said the agency is currently implementing several projects to reconstruct over 40 kilometres of rural roads which had been left in a state of disrepair for many years.

Read: Why Malta's rubble walls did not make a Unesco heritage list

The spokesman said concrete, asphalt and other materials that formed these roads, which were in a very bad condition due to lack of adequate road build-up and ongoing maintenance, are being replaced with stronger foundations and new surface layers.

Wied is-Sewda has come in for similar treatment.

Where the existing subsurface materials are not strong enough to withstand the loads required for road transportation, rebar and concrete are commonly used to lay a stronger base, the spokesman continued.

The spokesman said that in the past, many rural roads were built by applying thin layers of concrete or asphalt directly on existing soil or other similar material, which made them more likely to cave in or develop cracks, storm damage and other defects.

One reader who frequents Wied is-Sewda, which is located between Attard and Qormi, pointed out that motorists could soon start using the lane as a shortcut.

“That would only serve to increase traffic through the quiet country area,” the reader said.