€63 million plant to filter 80 per cent of country's sewage

Water in the south east of the island will be fit for swimming and fishing by 2008, as Government yesterday announced the construction of a wastewater treatment plant off Xghajra.

The €63 million (Lm27 million) plant was originally earmarked to be located at Ricasoli but Investments Minister Austin Gatt told a news conference that the project was shifted because of the ideal location of the Xghajra site and also because the original plans would have located it right next door to the multi-million SmartCity project.

With a recurrent expenditure of €3 million a year, the plant will filter no less than 80 per cent of the sewage generated by Malta - from Bahar ic-Caghaq to the south of the island.

The government is planning to filter all the country's sewage over a five-year period at a cost of €100 million. Two other plants are being constructed in Mellieha and Gozo and are set for completion by mid-2007.

This means that the coast will be free of contamination caused by untreated sewage, as sometimes evidenced by the pungent smells emanating from the grey sea patches.

Around 70 per cent of the project is expected to be financed through EU Structural Funds.

Water Services Corporation chief executive Mark Muscat gave the details of the plant.

The earmarked site is known as Ta' Barkat, some 480 metres off Xghajra (with the exception of around seven houses built outside the development zone) and 840 metres from Zabbar.

The new plant will restore quality bathing water to the coastal area spanning from Rinella to Zonqor Point as sewage discharges are eliminated.

Sewage generated by the Maltese Islands currently measures 70,000 cubic metres, reaching an estimated 70,000 cubic metres by 2016. Some 80 per cent of wastewater is discharged untreated in the sea off Xghajra.

The problem is sometimes exacerbated by sabotage to an outfall sewage pipe, which WSC chairman Michael Falzon believes is perpetrated for fishing reasons.

The water could also be used for agricultural purposes as well as the maintenance of the 100,000-metre stretch of SmartCity.

Dr Gatt said Xghajra council will be involved in the project to ensure minimum inconvenience.