Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/998504
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 JUNE 2018 5 NEWS JAMES DEBONO OVER one million cubic metres of excavated rock will be hauled out during the excavation of the tunnel proposed between Na- dur in Gozo and Imbordin in Malta. This is equivalent to more than the entire amount of con- struction waste disposed in a single year. A Project Development State- ment presented to the Environ- ment and Resources Authority identifies construction waste as one of the main environmental impacts of the project. The preliminary study which still has to be followed by full Environment Impact Studies, considers two options for deal- ing with the problem: disposing of the waste in the sea or using the waste in land reclamation projects. The PDS also reveals details on the route chosen for the tun- nel between a portal at Imbor- din in St Paul's Bay and another, west of Nadur in Gozo. The area being considered for the portal on the Malta side is located at Imbordin, between Manikata and the Pwales valley. Imbordin was chosen as the best location for the tunnel's entrance due to its location on a steep rock escarpment. This will still require an ad- ditional road link in the eco- logically sensitive area. But ac- cording to the PDS the portal is at a "short distance" to the road leading to Route 1 on the TEN-T, "thus limiting the length of access infrastruc- ture required". The elevation is also very close to sea level, thus the tunnel length would be minimised. The area being considered for the portal on the Gozo side is on the ridge just below the Ke- nuna Tower. The advantage of this location is the steep hillside. Furthermore, it is very close to Triq ir-Rabat, which makes the access from the tunnel to the connecting road network quite short. The tunnel will consist of a single-tube tunnel with two lanes, one in each direction. Each vehicle lane shall be be- tween 3.25m and 3.50m wide, and the two lanes will be di- vided by a central buffer area of approximately 1.0m width. A 1.0m-wide shoulder will be retained at both sides of the car- riageway. The tunnel will be operated with a remote toll system and will require no queuing areas or ancillary facilities at the portals. The planning and design of the tunnel is expected to take three more years. Excavation of the tunnel is expected to take three years and finishing works another year. This means that the tunnel will be developed in a seven-and-a-half-year time frame. The timeline is still considered as a "very broad estimate", as the actual duration of works will depend greatly on the tunnel- ling method chosen by the con- tractor, as well as the geological environment encountered dur- ing the tunnelling works. The PDS refers to a Social Im- pact Assessment carried out by Marvin Formosa which found that 82% of Gozitans favour a permanent link between the two islands. Gozo tunnel to produce one million cubic metres of excavated rock Tunnel entrance in Gozo is being proposed under the Kenuna tower at Nadur The tunnel entrance in Malta is being proposed at Imbordin (between Pwales and Manikata)