Proposed Għadira route would reconnect beach to valley
The new proposed Għadira route has the added environmental advantage over the upgrading of the existing road of reconnecting the beach to the valley ensuring that Għadira does not follow down the road of St George’s Bay, Balluta, Marsalforn and Xlendi where the sandy beach was lost because the beach was cut off from the valley by development, the Infrastructure Ministry said this evening.
It said that five proposals for this road had been made. Four were developed by then Minister Jesmond Mugliett and had all been objected to. Consequently the current ministry was only bringing forward a fifth proposal.
Three of the four proposals presented by former minister Mugliett involved the upgrading of the present road, including one proposal to put part of it on stilts: a viaduct that would allow the beach to be replenished naturally from the valley.
These three were all strongly opposed by environmentalists. The Infrastructure Ministry was now proposing the new route from the back of the Danish Village because the present route had already been shot down, and because it had been guided by the Environment Protection Department at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority that this is the least environmentally problematic option available.
The proposed route, it said, would not pass through the middle of Foresta 2000. The intrusion would be minimal, if at all, since it would mostly make use of an existing road which skirted the perimite of the planned afforestation.
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Jeremy J Camilleri
Nov 30th 2008, 12:06
Joseph Borda, Could you kindly explain to us common mortals what knowledge you've garnered from the environmental impact assesment report you have obviously read?
Don't tell me you're supporting something you have absolutely no idea about?
Joseph Borda
Nov 29th 2008, 07:48
Minister Gatt....Keep doing your good Job.........Malta needs Ministers like you.......The New Proposed Ghadira will for sure upgrade the area and now its time to start.......
C Cassar
Nov 28th 2008, 23:15
"The proposed route, it said, would not pass through the middle of Foresta 2000. The intrusion would be minimal, if at all, since it would mostly make use of an existing road which skirted the perimite of the planned afforestation."
All of a sudden what was previously being described by the government itself as a "trail" passing behind the Danish Village (see http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20081126/local/gatt-defends-plans-for-new-ghadira-road/ ) is now being described as a "road".
And then there is the lack of any scientific backing for the claim that the existing road is endangering the beach. I'm starting to smell a rat.
j borg
Nov 28th 2008, 21:11
one wonders how come the environment department within MEPA could agree to the obliteration to one of the most pristine garrigues in Malta so that the valley will not be cut off from the beach. Does the Authority know that the road has been there since time immemorial? Originally it was a track , then a road which was upgraded in more recent times. If the first four proposals were shot down by the environmentalist, this is definitely not being applauded by anyone, not even the environmentalists. Has anyone noticed that the size of the bay is decreasing? Since the days when it was replenished by using sand from the same beach, it doesn't seem that it has changed in size, road or no road. It's more a case that someone wants a large beach for a limited use.
jesmond zammit
Nov 28th 2008, 20:05
here s something typical of pn .divert the public opinion from the budget.