Making Maltese roads great again... with new pothole app

If there is one thing that transcends the great political divide in Malta it must be potholes and the pitiful state of our roads.

Pothole-fury seems to have the unique potential to unite people of all hues because they cause incalculable damage to the thousands of cars which choke the roads (and are the cause of a few backaches) on a daily basis.

Many have by now given up on reporting potholes as nothing ever gets done, and when roads do get patched, the first rainfall undoes all the good intentions. But not all hope is lost.

A new app which was launched last Sunday will allow you to snap a photo of a pothole, and send it together with the location and if need be a comment (preferably free of expletives) to the local council responsible for the road.

The app, called Ir-Rahal Taghna (Our Village), not only empowers motorists to report potholes but users can also report waste, graffiti and anything else which the local council could deal with. 

Every local council will have its own account, which will allow council staff to access and deal with the reports submitted by users.

While councils can update users about the outcome of their reports they will also be able to add more categories i.e. problems with properties, problems in parks, badly parked cars etc.

The app is available to download from Google Play and will be available on iTunes in two weeks’ time.