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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 AUGUST 2020 NEWS Delivery fee of just €1 per day for orders up to 5 newspapers per address To subscribe 1. Email us your choice of newspapers, recipient's name, address, contact number to production@ millermalta.com 2. Forward cheques payabale to Miller Dis- tributors Ltd to address: Miller House, Airport Way, Tarxien Road, Luqa LQA1814 Queries on other news- papers and magazines, contact production@millermal- ta.com maltatoday Same-day delivery of your favourite Sunday newspaper Monday-Friday MaltaToday Midweek • €1 BusinessToday • €1.50 Sunday MaltaToday • €1.95 ILLUM • €1.25 Support your favourite newspaper with a subscription https://bit.ly/2X9csmr JAMES DEBONO NINE months after former en- vironment minister José Herre- ra announced that a final report on land reclamation sites was to be submitted to Cabinet, a spokesperson for the Environ- ment and Resources Authority confirmed that "an analysis" of potential sites was still under- way. The ERA had been tasked by the government with identify- ing potential sites that could be considered further for land rec- lamation projects. In November 2019 Herrera announced that he was soon to present a report to Cabinet identifying the sites chosen by ERA. "For me, land reclamation is no longer the elephant in the room… in the coming weeks the document will be presented to Cabinet," Herrera had told MaltaToday in September. While excluding residential developments on such infra- structure, Herrera recognised that "such a project will also have to have an economic and commercial dimension". In November 2019, while speaking on TVM's Dissett, Herrera said that an €1.1 mil- lion study of the sea around Malta would form the basis for a proposal that he will be put- ting before Cabinet, suggesting that some six sites were iden- tified for environmentally safe reclamation. But that discussion was over- taken by the momentous events which led to the resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in 2019, and the appointment of a new government led by Robert Abela in which Aaron Farrugia replaced Herrera as environment minister. But in a clear indication that the new government may be buying more time before di- vulging details on the contro- versial topic, ERA is insisting that the analysis of potential sites has yet to be concluded. "Such analysis is underway and will be published once final- ized". Moreover, following the iden- tification of such sites, "further studies would be necessary on a case-by-case basis in or- der to evaluate the feasibility and environmental impacts of specific project proposals for these identified sites," the ERA spokesperson said. The ERA spokesperson did not reply when asked whether a final report has already been presented to government and whether it will be issued for public consultation. Land reclamation was first considered by the Gonzi ad- ministration in 2005 but sub- sequent studies questioned the environmental and economic viability of such projects in the absence of massive real estate investment. In 2013 the new- ly elected Labour government issued a call for expression of interest for companies interest- ed in land reclamation projects. But in 2018 the government decided that ERA should first indicate the least environmen- tally sensitive area where land reclamation can take place. The generation of one million tonnes of waste for the con- struction of the Gozo tunnel is set to aggravate Malta's limited space to take in waste, a move that will likely lead to greater pressure for land reclamation. But Xghajra residents, repre- sented by a Labour-led council, shot down a draft document from December 2019 which identified a vast stretch of sea area between Portomaso and Xgħajra as ideal for large-scale land reclamation. Several other sites, such as Qaliet Marku in Baħar iċ- Ċagħaq and the Freeport, were also seen as ideal for small scale projects. The major consideration in the ERA report seen by Malt- aToday was "the avoidance" of protected habitats, especially areas which include the prior- ity habitat Posidonia beds. But such habitats are also found in the area off Portomaso which forms part of the preferred site. The botched Paceville master- plan had also proposed land reclamation at Portomaso to create more space for residen- tial development in the resort. ERA still conducting analysis of land reclamation sites 305-boat marina proposed at Kalkara promenade JAMES DEBONO TRANSPORT Malta has pre- sented plans for 305 new berth- ing spaces, despite a clear com- mitment from transport minister Ian Borg that the Kalkara marina will not be growing by "even one centimetre". According to a project devel- opment statement, the proposed project will occupy an area of 35,000 square metres for 305 berthing spaces for boats ranging between 4.5m to 9m in width. In October 2019, MaltaToday had revealed that the Planning Authority's geoserver was show- ing an application for an area covering around 35,000sq.m of the creek along Triq Sally Port and Triq ix-Xatt, in Kalkara, but the website gave no public details on what was then a technically 'incomplete' application. News of the potential expan- sion of the existing 21,000 sq.m marina had angered residents, who took to social media to ex- press their outrage. But Borg then denied that there would be an expansion, by saying that "the Kalkara marina will not be grow- ing by even one centimetre." But while the application by Transport Malta does not spe- cifically propose an extension of the present marina, it does pro- pose the introduction of 305 new berthing spaces. Thirty of the berthing spaces will be reserved for large boats of 8-9m and 10-16m long. Ninety berths will be reserved for small- er boats of up to 4.5m in width and 6m long, while 80 berths will be allocated to boats which are 8m long and 5m wide. Ad- ditionally, 104 berths will cater for boats which have a six-metre width and are up to 10m long. The berths will be divided in two clusters, with 12 and 17 mooring lines respectively, and a total of 500 concrete anchors to support the buoyancy of the berthed. The PDS acknowledges that the project will increase the num- ber of large boats berthed in the inlet, and may result in the "increase the overall number of boats moored in the area". One of the expected impacts of the project is that it will "disturb the views of the Birgu bastions and Kalkara", which form part of the Area of High Landscape Val- ue of the Harbour Fortifications. This will result in a negative im- pact on the harbour views from the pedestrian promenade. The adverse visual impact may be mitigated by "capping the number of large vessels moor- ing in the inlet, and by installing their mooring buoys in areas, which will exert the least visual impact in the inlet". Moreover, the increase in the number and density of boats in the inlet may exacerbate the wa- ter quality in the harbour due to additional seepage and leakage of fuels, lubricating oils, and other chemicals used in boating. The project is being justified as a way of creating a uniform mooring arrangement for boats, which are presently anchored in a random and haphazard man- ner. In October, a spokesperson for TM had confirmed that the au- thority is presently preparing the "groundwork" to "potentially" issue a request for proposal "for an extension to the marina in the area".