Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1459407
13 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 MARCH 2022 JAMES DEBONO THE Public Works Department plans to build a rock revetment along the cliff-face of l-Għar tal-Veċċja at St Paul's Bay. The plans would drastically al- ter the coastline, obscuring the existing cliff-face. But they are being justified as a way to "pro- tect the friable cliff-face" and "avoid the collapse of Triq Stel- la Maris and damage to adjacent properties". The Veċċja sea cave is recog- nised as a natural geomorpho- logical feature, protected as an Area of Ecological Importance. In 2016 a nine-year-old girl was hospitalised after falling rocks hit her while bathing in the area. The plans come in the wake of an onslaught of construction activity in the area, which in- clude a nine-storey hotel on an existing terrace overlooking the bay. The cave's geomorphologi- cal features may extend beneath the site of the proposed hotel, according the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage. The hotel development, pro- posed by Josef Muscat, foresees the construction of a 22-room, eight-storey 3-star hotel with an overlying receded floor and basement, with related amen- ities consisting of a restaurant, gym and rooftop swimming pool. In January the Environment and Resources Authority raised its concern on the potential geo-technical risk for the Veċċ- ja cave, calling for a geo-tech- nical report. MaltaToday is in- formed that the report is being prepared. The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage contends that the cave should be consid- ered as a "significant geomor- phological feature that would warrant protection in terms of the Cultural Heritage Act." Residents in the area who spoke to MaltaToday welcomed plans by the government to ad- dress safety issues, but insist that a full geo-technical report and risk assessment on l-Għar tal-Veċċja be made availa- ble. They questioned whether over-development in the ar- ea was the real reason why the unsightly sea wall is being pro- posed. As proposed the works pro- posed by the government in- clude passageways for public access to the sea and a footway to link Triq Stella Maris to Tre- jet il-Veċċja. Sea wall obscuring natural cliff-face comes in the wake of 9-storey hotel plans and bather's injury from falling rocks Sea wall proposed at Veccja to prevent road collapse Residents in the area who spoke to MaltaToday welcomed plans by the government to address safety issues, but insist that a full geo-technical report and risk assessment on l-Ghar tal-Veccja be made available. They questioned whether over-development in the area was the real reason why the unsightly sea wall is being proposed