The long forgotten beach at Balluta Bay could be brought back to life and increased in size if plans drafted by the St Julian's council get the green light.

The council is proposing to upgrade the bay by adding a substantial amount of sand as well as improving accessibility to the beach from the recently-upgraded promenade.

St Julian's mayor Peter Bonello said the council's aim was to fulfil the wishes of many residents who have, over the years, expressed a wish to see the bay embellished and brought up to proper standards.

Architect Stephen Farrugia, commissioned to plan the project, said the proposal involved increasing the circa three-metre sandy parts of the beach to between 30 and 40 metres.

The council has also filed a separate application before the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to build a ramp, made of iron and wood, to improve accessibility - which the architect said was "close to nil" at present.

Though the application has still not been decided, in a recent meeting the authority's cultural heritage advisory committee decided against the proposal, saying it did not blend in well with the rest of the bay.

Mr Farrugia said the projects were complementary as it was pointless rehabilitating the bay if it was not accessible to everyone.

The mayor said the council was looking into tapping EU funds to replenish the beach. The project is estimated to cost around €2 million.

He said that apart from a public consultation, the project would also involve the carrying out of an Environmental Impact Assessment.

For several decades, Sliema and St Julian's residents associated Balluta Bay with inferior bathing quality. In the 1990s, public statements that the bay was polluted with sewage forced then Environment Minister Michael Falzon to take a plunge to prove the water was suitable for bathing.

The situation, however, did not improve much until, in 2007, a sewage leak into the sea forced Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani, presiding over a court case, to hold an on-site inquiry to determine the cause of the leak.

Should the proposal go through, Balluta could resemble the popular St George's Bay on the other side of St Julian's. That was replenished with 5,000 cubic metres of sand imported from Jordan in 2004 and is now one of the most popular sandy beaches on the island.

Although there is no estimate on how many cubic metres of sand would be needed to cover Balluta Bay to extend the sandy part to 40 metres, Mr Farrugia said the total area the project would cover was around 1,830 square metres, more than half the size of a football pitch.

mxuereb@timesofmalta.com

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