Mepa schedules Balluta Valley

Balluta Valley, which cuts through the localities of Sliema and St. Julians has been scheduled as an Area of Ecological Importance (AEI) by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa).

This natural site which encompasses an area of over 46,000m² has been designated with different levels of protection and includes a buffer zone to protect the overall integrity of the valley. While this velley represents a typical Maltese wied, it certainly holds some distinctive features in that it is “shorter, steeper, and wider” than most other valleys in Malta, Mepa said.

Richard Lia, heritage planning officer at Mepa said that although urbanisation girdles the entire valley, the steep banks and bed of this valley still support rich and dense maquis vegetation, whereas a substantial part of its northern valley side is characterised by exposed karstic terrain with associated floral assemblages.

Mr Lia also pointed out that  this 'green lung', in a densely-built area, has various components that contribute to the landscape setting of this valley — its geomorphology, a mixture of natural communities, archaeophytes as well as pockets of agricultural land that are today still farmed in the traditional way.

The entire protected valley is composed of Globigerina Limestone (Franka) while parts of the southern valley-side consists of a ravine with a sharp drop in site levels, reminiscent of a small-scale solution subsidence structure.

Apart from a predominance of carob and olive trees, the valley-bed also supports bay laurels (is-siġar tar-rand) whereas the upper valley side, sustains a population of rosemary (klin) and pyramidal orchids (orkidi piramidali), amongst other floral species.