Grand Harbour bridge makes port

The single-span steel bridge that will connect the foreshore by Fort St Elmo in Valletta to the breakwater arm in Grand Harbour arrived on a ship from Spain yesterday and will be put in place in the coming days, weather permitting.

The steel structure – which is 70 metres long and weighs 190 tons – was brought to Malta on board the MV Storman Asia. The project was unveiled in 2009, when Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said it was projected to cost €2.8 million.The bridge will replace the two-span bridge which was partly demolished in an Italian attack during World War II and subsequently removed.

Although the government’s original plan was to rebuild a replica of the Victorian bridge, the proposal was found to require a lot of steel and was not cost-effective. As a result, a simpler design was drawn up, incorporating a steel arch, a timber deck and an observation area.

The steel bridge is one of the government’s projects for the regeneration of Grand Harbour, which includes the panoramic lift linking Lascaris Wharf to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, and the removal of the tank-cleaning facility.