Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1508764
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 OCTOBER 2023 NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSAL UNDER European Social Fund+ 2021-2027 The Ministry responsible for European Funds would like to announce that it is launching a call for project proposals in the following area: Priority 1 - Enhancing employability and labour market resilience. Specific Objective: 4.1 – Access to employment and activation measures for all. The call will close on 31 st January 2024 at noon. The online application form for the submission of project proposals and supporting documentation are available on https://fondi.eu/what-funding-is-available/. Prospective Applicants are encouraged to refer to the European Social Fund+ Programme and the Eligibility Guidance Notes in order to check whether their proposals are eligible for funding through this call for project proposals. Further information on this call and on the European Structural and Investment Funds may be obtained from https://fondi.eu/. Any query should be sent by email on fondi.eu@gov.mt. A dedicated information session is being organised on Thursday, 12 th October 2023 from 10:00 till 13:00 at the offices of Servizzi Ewropej f'Malta – 280, Republic Street, Valletta. For further details kindly visit the website indicated above where all the call related documentation is available. Danish Village's solar farm heading for approval JAMES DEBONO A proposed solar farm on dis- turbed land near the Danish Village that will provide almost half of the Mellieha complex's energy needs is recommended for approval. Spread over 8,200sq.m of land which originally consisted of garigue will provide 42% of the energy needs of the Mellieha Holiday Complex, popularly known as the Danish Village. The project is being favoura- bly recommended by the Plan- ning Authority's Development Management Directorate, but a final decision will be taken by the Planning Board on 16 No- vember. Both the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage and the authority's own design adviso- ry panel have objected to the project due to its visual impact particularly when seen from the bypass and the road to Anchor Bay. The site is partly also located in a protected Natura 2000 site where the development of solar farms is specifically ruled out by the policy regulating solar farms in the ODZ. The site originally consisted of pristine garigue but was dis- turbed by the illegal dumping of construction waste by third parties over decades. A sewage treatment plant on part of the site is no longer in use. The Mellieha Holiday Com- plex justified the project on the basis that it will help offset the complex's carbon footprint, a requirement imposed by its parent company in Denmark. The imposition is a result of new Danish legalisation. Why not use the roofs? To minimise the visual im- pact the PA's Design Advisory Committee had suggested that the PV panels are placed on the various roofs of the existing buildings while the "disturbed area" is rehabilitated and re- stored to its original garrigue landscape. But the Mellieha Holiday Complex rebutted that locating the solar farm on an open field is preferable as this will allow them to use more efficient so- lar panels optimized for large- scale energy production. Installing smaller solar pan- els on the bungalows, they claimed, would represent logis- tical problems to pass cables down the bungalow limestone facades and trenching long lengths along the pathways to connect the panels to the dis- tribution unit. This would ne- cessitate the closure of parts of the complex for months, the owners said. The Superintendence for Cul- tural Heritage objected to the project because of the signif- icant negative impact on the cultural landscape. But the proponents claimed that by reducing carbon emis- sions which contribute to glob- al warming they are "indirectly contributing to the preserva- tion of the cultural landscape, particular in the low-lying are- as in the immediate vicinity of the project that are highly vul- nerable to rising sea levels". The project, however, was endorsed by the PA's Develop- ment Management Directorate due to its environmental value. Although the case officer re- port acknowledges the typol- ogy of the site is not listed as one of the preferred locations for the location of solar farms in current policy, they cited the favourable recommendation by the Environmental Resources Authority (ERA) as a reason to approve the development. Spread over 8,200sq.m of land which originally consisted of garigue will provide 42% of the energy needs of the Mellieha Holiday Complex, popularly known as the Danish Village.