Agreement with boathouse owners deplored

Nature Trust (Malta) has deplored the agreement between the government and the central committee of the Association of Boathouse and Caravan Owners under which Armier Developments Limited was given the green light to develop 1,575 boathouses.

The proposed footprint would be 23 hectares and would span the entire l-Ahrax coastline, from Ramla tal-Qortin to White Tower Bay, further spelling the end of the coastline there, it said.

NT has been clamouring for a reduction in the number of boathouses from the current 1,200 to 600. It has argued that the development should be confined to one or two zones, rather than five different zones spanning the entire Ahrax coastline.

Besides the environmental impact of such an agreement, NT also highlighted the moral connotations of the agreement, under which squatters who have been flouting the law for decades will now be given full legitimacy.

NT believes that this would also set the modus operandi for boathouse owners in other parts of Malta and Gozo, namely at St Thomas' Bay, Bahar ic-Caghaq, Delimara, Gnejna and Dahlet Qorrot, under which they would call for legitimacy on the basis of this precedent.