[WATCH] Quality in parts of new Mellieha bypass found to be below par

Infrastructural tests showed sections of the newly built bypass were not up to scratch, contractor to resurface the road at own expense

The new Mellieha bypass was completed early in summer
The new Mellieha bypass was completed early in summer

Parts of the new Mellieha bypass have been found to be below the required quality standards, Ian Borg has said.

Replying to a supplementary question in Parliament from Labour Party MP Clayton Bartolo, the Transport Minister confirmed that, after infrastructural tests had been undertaken on the new bypass, which was built only a few months ago, sections of it turned out to be of poor quality.

“The tests indicated that certain areas of the bypass were of a quality below the levels stipulated by the government and Infrastructure Malta,” Borg said.

The minister said the contractor would be resurfacing those parts of the road at its own expense.

“I will not permit that, after the government’s investment in this project, it ends up with a road of an inferior quality than we required,” he emphasised.

Transport Minister Ian Borg
Transport Minister Ian Borg

Last month, Bartolo had asked Borg in Parliament whether - in view of reports that the road’s asphalt was “wavy” - tests were carried out on its quality and “longitudinal regularity”, meaning the presence of bumps or depressions on the surface.

Work on the €2 million bypass project started around late April and was completed in summer.

The road, named Triq Louis Wettinger, was built with the aim of ensuring better safety for its users, with new crash barriers on the outer edges of the carriageway and a new central strip with barriers dividing the lanes in opposite directions.