Marina for Xemxija

In dribs and drabs, slowly but surely, but like Chinese torture nevertheless, the Malta Maritime Authority continues to drop out to us, the hoipoi non-yacht-owning citizens, details of what it plans to do to us in Xemxija.

So (chairman Marc Bonello - The Times November 9) it is going to be a massive "700-berth marina". It will require "considerable investment for a breakwater". Don't all big nature-changing projects do? And "the operator" (i.e. not the MMA but the commercial speculator to whom the operation will be passed on) will need to be given the chance to generate revenue by being given(?) "a few thousand metres of commercial space on the foreshore".

And so, according to Dr Bonello, there will/must be a breakwater, and pontoons, and "infrastructure", and car parks, and storage areas, and offices, and real estate development. And to do all this the MMA is simply saying finis to not only the Fekruna side but also right round the inside of this bay up to the Veccia.

In other words this is all that the vision of Dr Bonello, his MMA, and the yachting lobby can see. For them there is simply no acceptance of the fact this bay also has a social reality, viz that of so many families who for many decades have swum in this inner part of St Paul's Bay. There is a swimming sports club with over 30 years of history there, families with summer houses they've peacefully used to give themselves and their children some summer relaxation, small fishermen and others who are now simply being condemned to make way to accommodate Dr Bonello and his MMA's "ambitious project". What is the MMA's reply to the simple truth that where yachts move in swimmers are compulsorily moved out?

He tried to justify the MMA's attack on Xemxija by saying that Marsascala and Marsaxlokk are primarily fishing areas and so yacht marinas couldn't be placed there. He said that the Grand Harbour no longer has enough place for them. What he didn't say was that yachts already have Msida, Pietá and Ta' Xbiex but that apparently is not enough for the yacht pushing lobby to make enough kudos.

What he didn't say was whether the MMA had considered that the whole of Marsamxett and Sliema Creek right up to the Manoel Island bridge could - with the similar investment he's planning for Xemxija - be given over totally to more yachts than at present.

And what he clearly did imply was that for him all the bays in the northern part of the island are ripe candidates for yacht marinas... and to hell with swimmers and their families!