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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 25 SEPTEMBER 2024
NEWS
€30,000 green wall in Paola removed
after becoming too costly to maintain
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Paola local council executive
secretary Fabian Mizzi said
the material was absorbing too
much water which should have
been used by the plants them-
selves.
"Its management was an issue
since much more water than
initially anticipated was need-
ed, and therefore the plants
needed to be replaced more
frequently and at one stage it
was no longer feasible to main-
tain," Mizzi said. "Its mainte-
nance costs were covered with
the gardening contract the
Council had at the time."
He said there was coun-
cil-wide consensus to remove
it, and despite efforts to "save"
the vertical garden, it was no
longer feasible to continue
maintaining the project.
Asked if the council plans
to replace the vertical garden,
Mizzi replied in the nega-
tive, saying "the newly elected
Council has not even discussed
the issue in its first meetings."
The green wall was just one
of several similar projects
that were carried out through
several funding schemes pro-
moted by Ambjent Malta and
the Planning Authority's (PA)
Development Planning Fund
(DPF).
Government agency Ambjent
Malta was tasked with moni-
toring the wall for the first six
months, after which the re-
sponsibility was transferred to
the local council.
The Paola local council unanimously agreed to remove a green wall hanging on the Corradino Correctional Facility façade
