Infrastructure Malta, the government’s road agency, is putting out to tender contracts for the upgrade of 170 residential roads worth around €70 million.
The work is divided into six contracts and covers a total of 52km of roads as well as 85km of pavement/sidewalks, signage and where necessary stormwater improvements.
This latest announcement is part of a wider €700 million upgrade over seven years announced last year. The government let 120 contracts last year, of which 31 projects have started. Five consortia won the bids for the 120 contracts, according the Maltese government, in what Malta’s media called an “unprecedented” tendering move by Infrastructure Malta.
Road upgrades for the Maltese island of Gozo are being considered under different contracts.
“We started with 120 roads and we are continuing with another 170 roads,” said Ian Borg, minister for transport, infrastructure and capital projects. “We will continue with this work at this pace and we are working so that everything can be done at the highest standards and quality.”
But the government has its critics. Maltese environmentalists, as well as the Environmental Resources Authority and Nature Trust, condemned some of the road-widening works in rural areas. The work has been destroying the natural environment and was physically changing the profile of valleys including water courses.
The government’s announcement last year to upgrade roads came just as the European Commission issued data showing that Malta was one of a few European Union countries where road fatalities had increased over the past seven years to 2017.
Around 25,300 people lost their lives on roads in 2017, marking a 2% decline from 2016, and a 20% reduction on 2010. Malta, however, had 43 road deaths per million inhabitants in 2017, compared to 31 in 2010.
