Malta and Holland

Some days ago I met an old friend whom I had not seen for some time. He told me that he had returned from a long holiday in Holland.

I told him that if he waited a little bit longer, he could have saved the expense of travelling to Holland, as Malta will soon become a similar place - below sea level. To go to work, one would have to take a ferry on a canal.

It is a pity to see the amount of building material being dumped at sea, in deep water.

Tons of this precious material is still being dumped from Tigné and it was announced that the building material from Ricasoli is to have the same fate.

I wish to make a suggestion. A rock (a small island) is situated not far out opposite "Allies Tower" in Bahar ic-Caghaq. If this waste material were to be dumped in the sea, either by barge or truck, to form a road to this small island, it would act as breakwater from the Bahar ic-Caghaq side and leave an opening from the Salina side, creating a very useful harbour for yachts and solving the long waiting list for berths. At the same time it would also bring in some good revenue for the government.

I also suggest that the government bans fishermen from using good, newly cut slabs of stone (kantun) for lampuki fishing and instead use second-hand stone from construction sites.

One has only to visit the many deep quarries all over Malta to realise what I mean. Many countries were wise enough to use this material for land reclamation and Ricasoli may be the last chance we have.

Even the used grit blasted from ships in Malta Drydocks may be found to be good material for some useful purpose such as mixing it with cement. This has been dumped at sea for ages.

The government is spending thousands of liri on bring-in sites to recycle paper, glass, plastic and metal. Why is the above mentioned precious material wasted?