Mark Twain, arguably the United States' most famous humorist, once quipped: "Buy land. They don't make it anymore". Of course, Mark Twain was wrong. Land reclamation creates land where none exists.
In Malta's case it involves the practice of reclaiming land from the sea for new development or public use. In the immediate post-war period, land reclamation has provided Msida and Kalkara and recently Birżebbuġa (through a natural phenomenon) with much-needed recreational space.
Presently, the provision of reclaimed land in the Qalet Marku area, beneath the Magħtab Mountain along our Costa Esmeralda, would rectify some of the unpardonable blunders by our town-planners who, since the early British period, have failed to provide open spaces for the populace in new urban districts like Sliema, Gżira and Ħamrun. Furthermore, such a project would offer a solution to inert waste management, work opportunities and the added benefit of utilising prime land for yacht marinas and leisure parks.
At a recent business breakfast and subsequent follow-up focusing on the environment, the panel, which included the Prime Minister, was discreetly asked about the future of land reclamation in Malta. On both occasions this question was completely ignored; the panel did not even offer a feeble reply.
Apparently Mark Twain's flippant remark is shared by those in the corridors of power who seem oblivious of the benefits reaped from land reclamation by other Mediterranean countries.
Monaco, the smallest secular state in the world with an area of 1.6 kilometres and a population of 31,000, has since 1958 increased in size by almost 20 per cent through a well-devised reclamation programme.
Monaco's tradition of embarking on new structural methods in this regard has been taken up by Prince Albert who, on a visit to Malta for the Small Nations Games, remarked about Malta's insensitivity to the architectural and natural environment.
In Barcelona, reclaimed land has contributed enormously towards the industrial, commercial and tourist potential of this maritime city. The extension of the container zone south of the popular Ramblas is intended to make Barcelona the principal container distribution centre in Europe.
In Holland, the engineered landfills of the Zuider Zee are other success stories of the enterprising Dutch, whose expertise was availed of by successive Malta governments for local harbour projects.
In Asia, many countries successfully embarked on land reclamation projects particularly Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.
The complete silence of Mepa at the business breakfast on land reclamation is very intriguing. It is to be recalled that, in 2004, Mepa and WasteServ commissioned an international consulting firm "to look into the feasibility of undertaking land reclamation locally". The voluminous report should have been completed in November of that year but little has been heard about it. Furthermore, the then Minister of the Environment, in his contribution to this newspaper on May 4, 2005 under the title Land-Reclamation - An Opportunity, stated that land reclamation was "an alternative which merits serious consideration".
In the light of the findings of the report on land reclamation by the international consortium in 2004 as well as the favourable views expressed by the Minister of the Environment at that time, some form of explanation was expected at the business breakfast. Has there been a change of heart?