80 million for Piano’s Valletta. What about the roads?
Matthew Vella
In the grand world of engineering and architecture, roads are the ugly ducklings of construction. What more could kill a dinner party conversation than Tarmacadam and its effects on our lives?
And yet, the state of our roads retain a visceral hold on Maltese motorists. Since the first rains of the year, there was more to be said over the recurring craters on Maltese roads than the future of Valletta and the €80 million project that will turn it into a city of the 21st century.
Pot-holes, dislodged bitumen, waterlogged roads, the pathetic state of Msida, burst tyres and damaged car suspensions… the pitiful state of these roads on people’s lives this week left people wonder, yet again, how on earth we take this standing up.
In the last 20 years of almost one single administration, and after millions invested in infrastructural marvels from power stations to ports, it seems the art of road-building just was never harnessed. Not enough to make people forget about the ‘Third World’ state of the roads.
Road construction has a habit of turning into an intensive surgical operation when elections are close by or when foreign dignitaries visit the island. That’s why the “CHOGM roads”, across which Queen Elizabeth and Tony Blair were driven from the airport, retain the chunky acronym of the 2005 Commonwealth event.
In 2006, a government report revealed that Maltese motorists were paying at least €10 (Lm4) every day to keep their cars on the road. The report, commissioned by the Transport Authority as part of its park and ride campaign, revealed that a modest €14,000 car incurred €3,400 in additional costs yearly. At least €500 went for maintenance and insurance. Undeniably, the state of Maltese roads leaves its indelible mark on our cars.
Memorably, when the former roads minister Censu Galea was driven up St Paul’s Road (Alla w Ommu) by the Xarabank team, Galea was rightly prodded on how such a main road could have stayed in disrepair for so long, and he could only look on sheepishly.
Today no longer a minister, Galea says the crux of the problem lies in the works carried out on roads after events such as heavy rainfall. “We don’t have a specialised unit that can take care of the repatching of roads, which is usually the problem. You won’t find any problems with the new roads. But the old roads in towns remain a source of trouble because the repatching on them is not adequate.
“To make matters worse, when the Water Services Corporation has to mend the water mains, this involves tearing up the road right through the centre. It’s obvious that the water mains cannot keep on running through the centre of the road.”
Even more notorious is the state of the Xemxija bypass, which spent years closed due to a landslide brought on by nearby works from the Polidano construction company. It took years until the government forced the company to rebuild the road, and to this day the carriageway still has one of its lanes closed. At this rate, it seems Xemxija bypass is slowly becoming the Royal Opera House equivalent of road construction.
Labour’s spokesperson for infrastructure and public works, Charles Buhagiar, is himself an architect with road-building contracts under his arm. He says shoddy work on roads is usually the root of the problem.
“Malta’s roads are unable to capture the runoff from the rain. Since they are not slanted, on either side or to the centre, all that rainfall is trapped on the road, creating lakes which only ruin the road’s foundations.
“Without regular maintenance, rainfall enters the cracks and enters into the foundations, causing settlement. Obviously, the road would not have been constructed properly in the first place.”
Buhagiar also adds that Malta’s roads take a lot of heavy traffic, especially town cores with small roads from which heavy vehicles like trucks pass from.
“As things stand today, when it rains and suddenly our roads tear up, all that is done to them is a serving of cold asphalt to repatch them. By the time it rains again, that coating will be removed again.”
Compensation from ADT
But what about motorists and the availability of redress for the damages they incur from the effect of bad roads on their cars?
In 2005, Ombudsman Joe Sammut called on government to establish a specialised tribunal to address such concerns. Sammut, whose office had already tackled such concerns from motorists refused compensation by the transport authority (ADT), called for a new mechanism for compensation in the case of accidents caused by road hazards.
In his report, the Ombudsman said the authorities had to accept responsibility for accidents resulting from road hazards, because government and local councils were obliged to maintain properly the roads under their responsibility, so as to avoid injury to drivers and passengers as well as damage to vehicles.
He said drivers paid substantial amounts in licences and car registration fees and are entitled to drive in hazard-free roads. “Whenever road conditions constitute a real threat to persons and property, and damage ensues as a direct consequence of these conditions, it is unacceptable that the responsible authorities more often than not abuse disdainfully of their position of strength in relation to the individual and merely disclaim responsibility and refuse to accept liability for compensation,” Sammut wrote.
The government ignored the proposal, mindful of the slew of claims that would precipitate upon it due to the odious state of the roads.
Sammut said the ADT’s refusal for compensation by way of policy was unacceptable. “Like other EU citizens Maltese citizens are entitled to a fair treatment and responsive service by public authorities and institutions that resort to their position of strength in relation to citizens in order to shirk their responsibilities are failing in their mission to the country and its citizens at large.”
The Maxwell case
One such case presented to the Ombudsman involved an incident in September 2006 when a driver leaving Little Armier beach drove over a huge pothole, and the two front tyres burst. After her vehicle was towed back to her residence, she replaced the two damaged tyres, and a month later she sent her bill of Lm48 (€112) to the Mellieha local council, complete with photos of the pothole.
Eight months later, in June 2007, the council demanded a police report on the incident and a copy of the towing company’s job card. The complainant complied with the job card but not the police report, and the matter was raised during a meeting of the local council in August 2007.
Her request for reimbursement was turned down, because the council said she failed to substantiate her claim that the accident happened as a direct result of the state of the road.
The Ombudsman observed that the complainant admitted straightaway that she had failed to report the matter to the Police. He was still of the opinion that, even though it would have been better had she lodged the report, her failure to do so was not enough to justify the council’s decision to turn down her request.
Sammut said that had proper maintenance works been carried out on the road in question, the incident would not have occurred at all. The fact that two tyres of the car burst as a result of the vehicle’s impact with the pothole lent further credibility to her claim, since it is highly improbable that two tyres were damaged simultaneously as a result of the everyday use of a vehicle.
Sammut even recalled article 1033 of the Civil Code, which states that “any person who, with or without intent to injure, voluntarily or through negligence, imprudence, or want of attention, is guilty of any act or omission constituting a breach of the duty imposed by law, shall be liable for any damage resulting therefrom.”
Sammut upheld the complaint, and the local council decided to accept his recommendation in view of the small amount involved, although it made it clear that in the case of a bigger claim, the complainant would have had to resort to other remedies.
Agenda 2015
When you think of €80 million being poured into Piano’s Valletta, it’s enough to make you wonder why such serious money shouldn’t be poured into the kind of glorious road-building reserved for the CHOGM road, or the Manwel Dimech bridge – rushed into completion in time for the March election.
One thing is sure: politicians map the future of the country through the glory they pursue. Valletta is a case in point. The roads we drive our cars upon aren’t.
As both roads minister and the lead minister on the Renzo Piano project, Austin Gatt wants to dust up Valletta in time for its appointment to European capital of culture in 2018. Piano’s Valletta is expected to be finished in 2013, in time for another general election.
That’s the magic of elections. Last year, government gave doctors and nurses, a key constituency for the PN, a new collective agreement ahead of the March elections. The more unpopular teachers are still waiting for their long overdue collective agreement, even though Lawrence Gonzi is pledging to turn Malta into a “centre of excellence” for education by 2015.
Such Lisbon Agenda-fashioned deadlines are the rage in European politics, and yet the rhetoric survives even while the university academics complain we’re far off from the target.
Copenhagen, the world capital for organic food, wants to make 2015 the year it will make organic food available on 90% of every plate in residential homes for the elderly and children. Maybe 2015 should be the year Malta takes its roads out of the proverbial Third World.
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