Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1330252
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 JANUARY 2021 10 NEWS JAMES DEBONO A major road-widening pro- ject between Marsalforn and Rabat in Gozo will be exempt from an environmental impact assessment despite the loss of 10,693sq.m of agricultural land and the uprooting of hundreds of trees. The Environment and Re- sources Authority decreed that the impacts of the develop- ment are "unlikely to be signif- icant to the point of warranting an EIA". The road will create a new route to commute between the two villages, resulting in the uptake of 3,557sq.m of agricul- tural land. The new road was already foreseen in the 2006 local plan. An ERA screening report shows the road being widened across a number of valleys sup- porting watercourses and har- bouring a number of Aleppo pine trees. 8,675sq.m of undeveloped arable land will be used for the construction of a retaining wall but will be reinstated to its original state once the con- struction works are completed. The project is being jus- tified by "occasional traffic congestion" at the arm of the roundabout junction connect- ing Triq il-Kapuccini, with Triq ir-Repubblika in Victo- ria. The narrow carriageway at the roundabout arm at Triq il-Kapuccini also needs an up- grade as it does not conform to the requirements of the road standards, leading to addition- al bottlenecks. Since the road will retain the current single carriageway with a vehicular lane in each direc- tion, no significant impact on air quality is expected. The works will see the up- rooting of 305 trees and shrubs, most of which are planted along the roadside. Out of these, 98 will be transplanted within the road itself. The rest are either deemed to be not transplantable or considered invasive. In addition to the 98 transplantable species, 168 new indigenous species will be transplanted, with a minimum height of 3 metres. The ERA said the project was modified to reduce its environ- mental impact, such as with the reduction of the bi-direc- tional bicycle lane from 3m to 2.5m throughout, to limit the take-up of undeveloped land. Other improvements includ- ed the reduction of over-for- malised splays, field ramps constructed in beaten earth and the width of pavements, bicycle lanes, bus lay-bys kept to a reasonable minimum, and soft landscaping introduced in the Kappucini area. Main Gozo road with 'occasional congestion' to be widened No EIA for Marsalforn road- widening that will result in overall loss of 10,000sq.m of agricultural land JAMES DEBONO INFRASTRUCTURE Malta has formal- ly presented plans to build a roundabout right next to the site of a proposed super- market, outside development zones, in Burmarrad. The supermarket is being proposed by Bonnici Brothers Ltd on agricultural land between Triq is-Sardin and Triq Burmar- rad. The supermarket had originally been presented in September 2018 but then suspended for the past two years. New plans reactivating the two-storey super- market were presented on 10 December 2020, with an underground carpark for 179 cars. But IM also launched a public consul- tation on plans to upgrade the junction at the corner between Triq is-Sardin and Triq Burmarrad, which will require the expropriation of 139sq.m of agricultural land, which includes an old reservoir and the uprooting of 2 Cypress trees and an Orange cross tree. The supermarket is proposed next to a petrol station approved by the Plan- ning Authority in 2018, but which is still awaiting the appeals verdict of the Envi- ronment and Planning Tribunal. IM insists that the roundabout will be a traffic-calming measure as road users approach the residential area of Bur- marrad, reducing accident risks along the 2.5-kilometre road. It said the road's crossroads are "accident black spots with a history of collisions and serious conse- quences to road users, especially due to the lack of measures discouraging over- taking and speeding." MaltaToday is informed that apart from the Environment and Resources Author- ity's strong objections to urban sprawl in the ODZ, one major objection concerns the supermarket's traffic impact. In Sep- tember 2018 Transport Malta had re- ferred the application to the PA's traffic planning unit, noting that a traffic impact assessment may be necessary. While presently traffic along Triq is-Sardin is relatively low, the situation could change if the supermarket is ap- proved. Burmarrad roundabout near supermarket 'traffic-calming measure' says IM The supermarket is proposed next to a petrol station approved by the Planning Authority in 2018, but which is yet awaiting the appeals verdict of the Environment and Planning Tribunal