Land reclamation issues

Whether Mal­ta should go for reclamation of land from the sea could be back on the national agenda.

At no point in the discourse so far, however, has any mention been made about any specific major land reclamation project in the territorial waters.

Back in 2005, there had been talk about the possibility of reclaiming land from the sea in the vicinity of Għallis, opposite the Magħtab landfill, and at Xgħajra in the south of Malta.

Since then, it remains unclear whether the Malta Environment and Planning Authority has engaged in any sufficiently detailed study about the environmental and economic feasibility of land reclamation within our islands’ coastal zone.

A recent statement by the Leader of the Opposition has rekindled the discussion about land reclamation with the environment NGOs promptly, and expectedly, expressing their concerned scepticism about the matter. An informed, healthy discussion about the subject is warranted.

Land reclamation is not new to the Maltese islands. Marsa Sports Grounds is entirely reclaimed land, the sea originally reaching inland as far as Qormi since ancient times.

Msida is another example of a major land reclamation project on a local scale, together with the Freeport in Birżebbuġa and the platform on which the Delimara power station stands.

Not to mention a host of micro-scale private and public projects around the coast, which also include, say, a cruise liner terminal in Grand Harbour. There can never be any bone of contention about the economic benefits the country derives from the cruise liner industry and, therefore, in this specific context, it is vital to reclaim land from the sea.

Debunking land reclamation altogether as if it were all doom and gloom and nothing else is quite simply a non-starter.

To dismiss the preoccupation of environmental NGOs about the issue is equally unsound.

There will always be a price to pay when inert waste, usually from construction and demolition sources, is arbitrarily dumped into the sea. The hardest hit, from a purely environmental standpoint, is obviously the seabed, which not only loses its integrity in terms of physical characteristics but any biodiversity thriving on a particular site that is reclaimed is wiped out altogether.

The case of Posidonia oceanica meadows (seagrass) that lie over large tracts of seabed at various depths around the coastline merits a mention.

The ecological significance of Posidonia meadows is well known in terms of stabilising the seabed and serving as nurture grounds for an immense variety of benthic species and other marine organisms.

How does any land reclamation project that one may have in mind feature with respect to this and what legal provisions would be needed, if any, in this regard?

The dumping of inert waste at sea is aesthetically unpleasing.

Most of all, however, it disturbs the water column by contributing to turbidity as the material eventually settles down as sediment on the seafloor. This lowers the photosynthetic capabilities of aquatic species in that particular site to the detriment of the marine ecosystem as a whole.

The effect would be expected to be localised, but complications would certainly arise should the inert waste be not so ‘inert’ and be contaminated with toxic materials such as heavy metals or other chemical species that could be absorbed by the marine ecosystem and contaminate food chains.

The quality of ‘inert’ waste to be dumped is therefore an issue that cannot be taken lightly.

What are the environmental and economic implications of engineering an artificial island similar to Palm Island in Dubai right over here in Maltese territorial waters, a scenario that perhaps has long grasped the imagination of many?

Dark green lobbyists would argue that such a massive project would require an unprecedented volume of construction material and debris that can only be derived by fuelling, somehow, an unprecedented building spree that is most unwanted by many.

There is concern about environmental and human health. The implications in terms of the resultant particulate matter levels in ambient air, for example, white and black dusts, could be significant.

The Magħtab landraise is undergoing extensive rehabilitation. To what extent, also given any potential chemical contamination of the site, is it advisable to go for limestone waste at Magħtab for land reclamation purposes from the sea?

Palm Island in the Mediterranean could perhaps be convenient for relocating recycling plants away from urban areas where they may still be perceived as problematic.

Hypothetically, and various other considerations permitting, it could also be an ideal safe place for siting a mass burn incinerator. In the same way that Malta could utilise an artificial island under its jurisdiction for the purposes of constructing a mega-solar power station upon it.

Pie in the sky or not, in the absence of a holistic and rigorous environmental and economic analysis on the subject, perhaps with a clear list of potential projects in mind, the discussion about artificial islands close to shore will not go beyond the purely speculative.

sapulis@gmail.com

The author specialises in environmental management.