Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1051772
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 14 NOVEMBER 2018 5 NEWS TENDERS for the construc- tion of an underground tunnel between Malta and Gozo will be issued at some point during 2019, according to Infrastruc- ture minister Ian Borg. The minister was replying to a series of parliamentary ques- tions by PN MP Toni Bezzina, where he said that details on how the tenders would be structured would be given soon. "Over the last two months, the geological model of the area under investigation, that is being considered for the tunnel to pass beneath, was completed," Borg said, adding that in recent weeks the results from the model were discussed with various experts, entities and authorities. Borg said that nine cores samples were collected, with results from tests carried out being integrated into the geo- logical model. The minister said that a total of €751,645.60 was spent on the coring, which was carried out by the company GEOTEC spa and which was awarded the contact following a com- petitive tender. Technical studies forming part of the project's Environ- mental Impact Assessment (EIA), required a develop- ment permit to be issued, as well as topographical surveys to determine where the tun- nel's proposed entrance would be, also continued in recent months, the minister said. In August it was then an- nounced that the entrances to the tunnel would be Nadur, below the Kenuna Tower, and Imbordin, a hamlet between Pwales and Manikata that forms part of St Paul's Bay. The proposed tunnel would be 13km long and 500m wide, and would be able to take a daily capacity of 6,500 cars. "In a project of this size, the planning stage is an integral part of the implementation process," Borg said. Once processes such as the technical planting and proce- dures related to studies and permit evaluations were com- pleted, contractors for the pro- ject would be selected before the infrastructural work got underway, Borg said. Malta-Gozo tunnel tender to be published in 2019 JAMES DEBONO THE Planning Authority has approved the dem- olition of an existing villa located in the corner between Triq Wied Ghomor and Triq il-Mensija to make way for four offices and 19 apartments set on eight floors. The development will also include an ODZ swimming pool with a pool at level 6, and a common 50sq.m swimming pool located in a side garden, which will include an extensive decking area. The Swieqi local council had opposed the development due to its overbearing impact on valley views "It is simply not good enough to forbid de- velopment on one side of the ODZ line but to allow overbearing development a few metres away, which will have serious consequences on the visual quality of the "protected" area", mayor Noel Muscat said in a strongly worded objection sent to the Authority in October. Muscat insisted that building heights should be limited in all areas which are immediately adjacent to ODZ land. According to the Swieqi mayor the PA al- ready has the tools to embark on such an ap- proach. According to the Design Guidelines issued in 2015, "The external design of all new de- velopments should seek to provide visual in- terest, enriching the quality of the context within which they are located. Such interest may be derived from ... volumetric / massing ... contributing to a positive visual aspect in the short-, medium- and long- range". Eight-storey development overlooking Wied Ghomor approved