Ian Borg defends dismantling parts of jogging track, saying it shouldn’t prevent €20 million investment
A €90,000 investment should not prevent an investment of €20 million, Transport Minister Ian Borg said when asked about why the government was dismantling parts of a jogging track in Santa Lucija which was refurbished only two years ago.
The works are part of Infrastructure Malta’s plans for the construction of an underpass at the adjacent roundabout.
As works begun on an underpass in Santa Lucija it emerged that parts of a jogging track which was refurbished in 2017 at the cost of €90,000, which also included open-air gym items, would be dismantled and rebuilt as part of the project. The plans for the infrastructural work were submitted in October 2017 – only months after the newly refurbished pathway was inaugurated.
Asked whether there was a lack of planning in this regard, Borg said that the track had been completed in the previous legislature – that is, before the 2017 general election – and that when he had taken office in his current ministerial role, him and his team had
identified the roundabout as a bottleneck especially after the Marsa Junction Project will be completed, and said that if investment in such a tunnel was not made then the maximum benefits of the Marsa project could not be reaped.
“It does not mean that because of an investment of €90,000 we should not do a €20 million investment which will, in tandem with a €70 million project, give better results,” he told this newsroom.
He said that his ministry was conscious of the existence of the jogging track and confirmed that it would in fact be rebuilt and will be there even after the infrastructural project is completed.
“Let us put everything into perspective; it does not mean that it is nice to remove €90,000 worth of work, but in the wider perspective we took the right decision to rebuild the jogging track after we build the Santa Lucija tunnel which will in turn help the Marsa junction,” Borg said.
According to Infrastructure Malta, the new jogging track will retain practically all the materials introduced in the 2017 refurbishment.
The Malta Independent questioned Infrastructure Malta regarding the fact that just two years ago, the Santa Lucija jogging track had been renovated, with the introduction of an open-air gym.
Infrastructure Malta replied that the existing jogging track needs to be excavated to build part of a 1.1km twin walkthrough underground culvert, which will extend from Tal-Barrani Road to reach another similar underground tunnel network being built beneath the new flyovers of the Marsa Junction Project.
“Infrastructure Malta is building the new jogging track in consultation with the Santa Lucija local council. Whilst part of it will be built in a new design, the length of the paved paths of the jogging tracks will not be shortened.
“The project contractors are carefully dismantling the existing paving stones, outdoor gym equipment, lighting systems and other equipment and materials, so that they can be reused in the new track.”