Traffic: Road works are making up for what other governments ignored, Ian Borg says

Amidst increased traffic jams as a result of road works across the country, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg has said that the government is making up for the negligence of its predecessors in the infrastructural sector.

Asked about a recent increase in traffic across Malta which has come at a time when road works in the country have intensified, Borg said that the works which are currently being done are because the government had committed itself to an “unprecedented” seven-year investment programme to improve the country’s infrastructure.

He said that this was necessary because previous governments had either ignored or been negligent on the country’s infrastructure, meaning that it had fallen behind.

On the traffic issue, Borg said that coordination remains key and is something which those carrying the works out are continuously trying to achieve.

“We work in such a manner where we try and make sure that we are coordinated – while we see that there is the need to continue investing, that doesn’t mean that we should be ignoring the fact that people need to continue travelling”, he said.

“However, we need to understand that for every person who experiences ongoing works on our roads, there are others who are still waiting for their own road to be worked on”, he added.

There are currently 121 road work projects ongoing across Malta and Gozo, leading to criticism from many who believe that too many projects are being done in too short a period of time, hence creating traffic gridlock in certain areas.

The works did come to a temporary halt this past week as contractors faced issues when it comes to the dumping of construction material.

Asked whether a solution to the impasse had been found, Borg said that the quarry – where waste is dumped – issue did not fall under the remit of his ministry, but that there had been progress in that regard.

Works were halted on Monday and Tuesday, but had resumed by Wednesday, Borg said.