Sand reclamation at St George's Bay

St George's Bay in St Julians took a brief breather from the crowds that normally flock there when the beach was extended by 800 square metres, yesterday.

Today, thanks to an extra five metres of sand laid out out into the sea along the whole stretch of the beach, it should be able to cater for even more sun worshippers.

The operation, carried out by Salv Bezzina & Sons Ltd in less than a day, ran smoothly, according to the MTA's product planning director, Mario Attard.

It started at midnight on Sunday, when the machinery was set up and the actual extension of the beach - with 1,700 tonnes of sand (almost the same amount of sacks) - kicked off at 2 a.m.

The road was closed and the beach was empty, as sacks of sand were lifted off trailers by means of a crane and poured out onto the beach.

A number of measures were taken to speed up the process and avoid wasting time, including having the trailers that were transporting the sacks waiting to unload. Around 70 trailer trips were carried out, each carrying between 12 and 20 sacks of sand, made specifically for the Malta Tourism Authority.

The crane could lift four sacks at a time, as opposed to one, to save time, and these were lowered directly onto the spot where they needed to be spread out by a tractor, rather than creating a single mound.

Mr Attard said the vessel that had transported the sand from Jordan arrived on Friday. But the decision had been taken not to close the beach at the weekend, and work on the extension outside peak times.

The sand was being added not because it had been lost, but to widen the beach, he said. In fact, the expansion was carried out due to the success and popularity of the beach over the last three seasons - it is frequented by an estimated 100,000 local and foreign beach-goers a year.

The original Malta Environment and Planning Authority development permit also allowed for it, Mr Attard said.

Students swarm to St George's Bay like flies, the area being home to a number of language schools, as well as hotels, catering and entertainment establishments, and "we had to politely ask them to leave even at midnight when we turned up to set up the machinery", Mr Attard said.

Due to the level of service and management of the beach, it had qualified for Blue Flag status, while Bugibba's perched beach was soon to follow suit, and Ghadira Bay was lined up to acquire it in two years, said Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, who visited St George's Bay yesterday. The extension was due to take place at the beginning of last week but was postponed after the ship transporting the sand from the Port of Aqaba in Jordan got stuck in the Suez Canal because of bad weather.

The extension was originally earmarked for the end of May and the sand had been ready for shipment by the beginning of that month.