Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1443447
INFRASTRUCTURE Malta end- ed 2021 with a record €200 mil- lion annual capital investment in Malta's road, maritime and green infrastructure. Within three years since its establishment, this agency has become the foremost driver in public infrastructure projects in Malta, as it coordinated a capital outlay of €475 million in Gov- ernment and European Union projects. Infrastructure Malta is set to maintain this unparalleled momentum in the New Year with many more public infrastructure developments, some of which are already well underway. In 2021 road users in Malta started benefitting from some of the most important road up- grades of the last two decades, in- cluding Central Link Project, the Santa Lucija Roundabout Under- pass and the new multi-level in- tersection of the Marsa Junction Project. The 2025 Malta Trans- port Master Plan had identified this junction as the most critical infrastructural intervention re- quired in the Maltese road net- work. It is the largest road project ever implemented in Malta and Infrastructure Malta succeed- ed in completing it on time and within budget, despite the logis- tical obstacles of the pandemic. The new Central Link Project roads between Mriehel, Balzan and Attard had been on the cards since the 1960s. Successive ad- ministrations shelved the plans, leaving road users stuck in out- dated traffic light junctions and one-lane carriageways, causing congestion and air pollution in many nearby areas. Infrastruc- ture Malta improved the orig- inal project plans to reduce its footprint, increase green areas and introduce many facilities for alternative modes of travel. We opened the new lanes of this pro- ject and removed the old traffic light crossings within two years after starting works in 2020. Central Link Project also in- cluded 10 kilometres of foot- paths, new bus lay-bys and Mal- ta's longest segregated cycling route. Along this new infrastruc- ture we planted 1,160 indigenous trees and 13,774 shrubs and oth- er plants. That's 945 more trees in this area than there were be- fore the project started. The urban greening effort of the Central Link Project is only a small share of Infrastructure Malta's 2021 green investment. Through different projects, we planted more than 21,000 trees in one year. Infrastructure Mal- ta has thus added 40,000 trees in Malta in less than three years. Our 2021 project to develop Malta's first solar pavements is a blueprint for further investments in this eco-technology in the coming years. The Grand Harbour Clean Air Project is advancing rapidly. Through this EU-funded project, by 2023 Malta will be one of the first in Europe to adopt shore-to- ship electricity for cruise liners, reducing over 90% of their air pollution while berthed at port. Construction and cable laying works are steaming ahead as most of the electrical systems required will be in Malta in the coming months. While coordinating these mul- ti-million projects, Infrastructure Malta is also implementing many other 'smaller' ones. During the last 12 months we rebuilt over 210 residential roads, completing an average of four streets a week. We also upgraded another 100 rural roads and carried out main- tenance and resurfacing works in many other arterial and second- ary routes. The agency's maritime infra- structure team also had a very busy year. We coordinated the rapid construction of the two ter- minals for the new Malta-Gozo fast ferry service and completed the upgrading of St Thomas Bay's jetties, in Marsascala, and the old ferry quay in Cirkewwa. The €6 million upgrade of the fisheries quays and pontoons at the Mgarr Harbour, in Gozo, is ready as well. In 2021 we also launched the long-awaited regeneration of the Sally Port quays between Kalkara and Vittoriosa. A few weeks ago we conclud- ed the rebuilding of Gheriexem Road and its new promenade. We gave residents peace of mind after decades of subsidence dam- age to their homes, as the old road's weak foundations slow- ly sank into the valley beneath. This road was another example of how procrastination through the years compounded problems, rendering the required interven- tions costlier and riskier to im- plement. Such projects are often shelved due to their complexity or to skirt controversy. Rather than avoid- ing them, Infrastructure Malta works to turn them into oppor- tunities of a better quality of life for residents, commuters and other users. Malta must adopt this approach in its long-term challenges as well, not only in transport-re- lated decisions such as electri- fication and mass rapid transit systems but also in other areas, including tourism, education and urban development. Postponing difficult decisions today will de- prive us of precious time for their sustainable implementation, put- ting our country at risk of greater troubles in the future. We are not sitting on our lau- rels in 2022. By the end of the year we are opening the tunnels and flyovers of the Kirkop Tun- nels and Airport Intersection Project (KTAIP) and the Luqa Junction Project (LJP), two major upgrades along the main route to many localities in southern Malta and to the Malta Airport and the Malta Freeport. The new Mriehel Underpass will further improve the link be- tween the new lanes of the Cen- tral Link Project and the Mriehel Bypass. Our seven-year residen- tial road rebuilding programme will reach many more streets in different localities. The upgrad- ing of the Grand Harbour's in- frastructure continues with the new 360-metre cargo handling facility at Ras Hanzir and the re- inforcement of the Deep Water Quay and the cruise liner quays at Pinto Wharf, amongst many other projects. In 2022, Infrastructure Malta is going to be working harder than ever before. 12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 JANUARY 2022 Fredrick Azzopardi is CEO of Infrastructure Malta OPINION Frederick Azzopardi Working harder than ever before Kirkop tunnels