Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1189466
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 DECEMBER 2019 MALTA'S Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has concluded that the use of pub- lic resources to maintain a min- ister's personal Facebook page or to produce material for that page represents an abuse. George Hyzler came to this conclusion [opens PDF] after considering a complaint by the Nationalist MP Karol Aq- uilina against former minister Konrad Mizzi, who was tour- ism minister when the com- plaint was made. The complaint concerned partisan political content in a Facebook page which ap- peared to be an official page administered by the Ministry for Tourism. The Commissioner found that the page in question was not an official page but the personal page of Mizzi, not- withstanding that it included the statement "This page is maintained by the Ministry for Tourism", and notwith- standing that Mizzi himself mistakenly described it as an official page in a reply to a parliamentary question. "This mistake demonstrated an inability to maintain a dis- tinction between the minis- ter's public role and his pri- vate role as a politician. Given that the page was the min- ister's personal page, he had every right to post partisan political content in it. Howev- er, it was also the practice for ministry employees to make posts to the page relating to the minister's official duties," Hyzler said. "This was to the minister's personal benefit since such posts were in effect being used to boost his political profile. The Commissioner there- fore concluded that ministers should not use public resourc- es to maintain their personal Facebook pages or produce content for those pages, even if such content is related to their official duties." Hyzler said a clear distinc- tion should be maintained between a minister's personal channels of communication and the official channels of ministries or departments of government, and only the lat- ter should be maintained us- ing public resources. Given that Mizzi had re- signed in the last week, Hy- zler recommended no further action but said he is prepar- ing another report which will consider wider issues and set out principles to be followed in the use of social media by ministers and parliamentary secretaries. Ministers cannot use public resources to maintain Facebook pages, standards czar says €2.25 million project to increase Marsa-Hamrun bypass connections THE Marsa-Hamrun Bypass brings to- gether several arterial routes of the Euro- pean Union's Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) in Malta. This new pro- ject will augment the benefits of last year's €5 million investment to reconstruct and widen this road. A new slip road and an exit ramp will give commuters a more efficient alternative to existing routes through nearby streets, shifting through traffic from residential ar- eas to the arterial road network. This will not only help to cut journey times but will also reduce accident risks and vehicle pol- lution in several nearby residential zones. Works started a few days ago and will extend from Il-Kanun (Cannon) Road, Santa Venera, along the southbound car- riageway of the Bypass, to the multi-level roundabout and flyover junction connect- ing it to Hal Qormi Road, Qormi (near the Maltapost offices). Infrastructure Malta scheduled this project to commence soon after the completion of the upgrade of Hal Qormi Road, which was widened to four lanes with new footpaths for increased pe- destrian safety earlier this year. Through the new project, an existing, dis- used road next to the Bypass will be rebuilt and extended to connect Il-Kanun Road, in Santa Venera, with the southbound car- riageway of the Marsa-Hamrun Bypass. This slip road will introduce a quicker con- nection from Qormi, Birkirkara, Hamrun, and Santa Venera towards Valletta and the south of Malta. It will also provide an al- ternative to the existing route through the roundabout beneath the Mriehel Bypass flyover, at Qormi. As a result, the new con- nection will also have a positive impact on travelling times through this roundabout and the southern end of the Mriehel By- pass. The other part of this project includes the addition of a second approach lane at the slip road connecting the Marsa-Hamrun Bypass to the Hal Qormi Road roundabout and flyover junction, facilitating access to Hal Qormi Road and to the centre of Ham- run. This additional lane will improve trav- elling times to and from all routes merging at this roundabout. To link the two new connections, Infra- structure Malta is also opening a fourth southbound lane along the Marsa-Ham- run Bypass. This lane was built when the road was reconstructed last year. The new links will be developed within existing road spaces and nearby disturbed sites, opening up over 600 metres of ad- ditional lanes to the existing network. In- frastructure Malta is also incorporating a new pavement along the Marsa Hamrun Bypass slip road towards Hamrun and Qormi, for safer pedestrian access to these localities. The project also includes the extension of a walk-through culvert that was built as part of the road's reconstruction in 2018. This tunnel houses high voltage cables forming part of the national electricity grid. Through this 800-metre walk-through culvert, any repairs or maintenance works to the electricity cables within can be car- ried out without the need to dig up the road. Infrastructure Malta will also lay new underground cable ducts to reinforce the networks providing Internet and other tel- ecommunication services in the area. Last year, the agency rebuilt and widened the Marsa-Hamrun Bypass to a six-lane road to improve the safety and efficiency of the junctions and slip roads connected to it, eliminating several bottlenecks that caused delays to road users travelling along this south-central route. The project led to a 42% reduction in travel times along this route, whilst improving the area's air qual- ity by decreasing congestion emissions. The addition of the new access road and the widening of the slip road included in the second upgrade launched this week will continue to extend these benefits to road users and nearby residents. Hal Qormi Road project In another recently-completed project in the same area, Infrastructure Malta wid- ened Hal Qormi Road to four lanes and installed a safer system of concrete crash barriers, to reduce the risk of cross-median collisions and other accident consequenc- es. The new road design improves the ap- proach and exit lanes linking it to the two roundabout junctions at its ends. The agency's contractors rebuilt the road's pavements and added a new one in an area that did not previously have a safe pedes- trian access. Overhead electricity, Internet and telecommunication wires in this road were replaced with underground cables. This €1 million investment also included a new roundabout in It-Tigrija Street, to improve access to the adjacent bus termi- nus and park and ride facilities.