Sliema's Tower Road... earmarked for rebuilding but gets new layer nonetheless

Although Tower Road in Sliema is set to be reconstructed from scratch in the coming months, Infrastructure Malta has just spent €830,000 in an extensive resurfacing job stretching from the Ferries to St Julian’s.

Addressing a news conference at Fond Għadir, Sliema, Transport Minister Ian Borg justified the decision on grounds that parts of this arterial thoroughfare were in such poor state that urgent action was needed.
However, the timing of the project a few weeks before the European and council elections and the manner in which the works were conducted raised eyebrows.
While Sliema mayor Anthony Chircop told Times of Malta they had neither been notified about the news conference nor on the works themselves, questions were raised about the fact that the area reserved for parking at the side was not resurfaced.
Asked about this, Dr Borg said it was technical. “Since we are not constructing the road from scratch, part of the old asphalt layer had to be retained to calibrate the resurfacing machine to keep the existing levels. Failure to do so would have made the road prone to flooding,” he said.
The minister noted that several roads in Sliema would be rebuilt in the coming...