New roads agency will separate roles of regulator and implementer

The establishment of Infrastructure Malta, a new agency that will be implementing the government's pledge to invest €700 million in Malta's roads, will see Transport Malta (TM) relieved of the burden of acting as both regulator and implementor of roadworks, Transport minister Ian Borg said on Tuesday.

TM had for a been left in a situation where it needed to carry out both roles, the minister said, adding that once set up, Infrastructure Malta have to obtain the necessary permits from TM as well as other agencies and authorities.

The minister was addressing a press briefing on the new agency as parliament is expected to start debating a new law govern the agency and its operations, where he stressed that the road would be responsible for both arterial and residential roads.

“Our first priority is some 160 residential roads that were never built,” Borg said, adding that the order in which roads were built and repaired would depend on a number of factors including its present condition, its economic importance and the number of people that used the road.

Borg explained that in addition to administering government funds dedicated to roadworks, the agency would also be tasked with improving the level of coordination between different agency involved, such as Enemalta, the Water Services Corporation and other private companies.

“We must have a situation where one agency is coordinating and responsible for what happens on the ground,” he said, adding that the agency would also be looking to implement higher standards in the way infrastructure projects are managed and implemented. “It’s useless throwing €700 million at something without raising standards and doing it well.”

Improving standards, he said, also meant ensuring that contractors were equipped with the necessary tools to carry out works according to the latest safety standards as well as in a timely manner. Borg said that to do so, the private sector would also need to ensure that it was appropriately equipped to carry out the required works.

Furthermore, Borg said that over the past year, the ministry had consulted with a number of stakeholders, including local councils, who he said would not be losing out on any funds but would rather have more funds to use for other projects once the responsibility of carrying roadworks was taken on by the agency.

He said the agency would also be setting up a presence in Gozo, making it the first time that a dedicated agency would be coordinating such works in Gozo. He said the island would no longer have to relay on the usual budgetary allocation for such works, which was currently limited to some €1.5 million.

Moreover, the minister insisted that while the government was doing its utmost to reduce cars from Malta’s roads and to encourage the use of alternate modes of transport, its roads still needed to be improved and made futureproof, and able to take the eventual introduction of other modes of transport and potentially driverless cars.

For this to happen, many roads needed to be redesigned and rebuilt, said the minister, adding that less traffic congestion would also result in fewer emissions and cleaner air.

Finally, Borg said the agency would also be implementing a pilot project that will see telephone wires placed underground in order to improve Malta’s built environment.