Land reclamation is a means to an end, not an end in itself. It entails major costs – both financial and environmental – so its aims, together with any potential benefits or disadvantages, should be openly laid out.
Before dumping tonnes of construction and demolition material into the sea and obliterating the marine environment of the area in question, a clear strategy should be debated. A sustainable and long-term vision must provide the guiding light.
Piecemeal reactions often lead to problems down the line
A central question revolves around whether land reclamation would solve existing problems and improve our quality of life.
Some countries have reclaimed land in order to build necessary infrastructure, as was the case with Hong Kong airport. The national requirements that might justify such major costs, and the scale of any reclamation, are crucial considerations.
For example, does the aspiration to reclaim land in Malta envisage the construction of real estate or hotels along the coastline by private investors or would it target relatively smaller projects, such as extending the infrastructural capacity of existing harbour areas as has already been done before?
There is no doubt that land reclamation is very expensive. A report by consultants Carl Bro, published in 2005, on land reclamation in Malta noted that it could only be commercially justified through highly priced activities – such as residential developments or projects related to the tourism sector.
A subsequent report in 2007 by Scott Wilson with ADI Associates pointed towards a project similar to the proposals for Smart City but questioned whether there is sufficient demand for this scale of development.
As there is already a good supply of residential housing available within the existing development zones in Malta, the justification to use land reclamation to create more residences is not evident. The reasons for the significant amount of vacant property need to be analysed and addressed and the urban sprawl should be contained not extended to new areas.
In recent weeks, there has been a hint of creating more yacht marinas through land reclamation. A demand exists for berthing spaces in both Malta and Gozo.
Building infrastructure for yachts within existing harbour areas is one thing, however, taking this to trigger the development of real estate in a pristine marine area would be a different scenario altogether.
One would assume that people who like boating also appreciate the natural coastline and the underwater marine environment and would not want to destroy it unnecessarily.
If any new yacht marinas are to be promoted, this should be done through strategic planning at a national level.
Piecemeal reactions often lead to problems down the line. Ideally, yacht marinas should be located within existing harbours.
The financial cost of land reclamation is high and it is only likely to be feasible in relatively shallow waters. This points towards the northern shores of the island.
Malta’s ‘shallow’ waters are, however, also the best option for many important marine activities, including a range of recreational and tourism pursuits such as yachting, swimming, diving or water-sports, as well as fishing, renewable energy, bunkering, and aquaculture.
All these activities compete for the same, limited marine spaces.
Before allocating any of our waters to major land reclamation development with irreversible impacts, plans for all marine-based activities should be taken into consideration, involving extensive consultation with all stakeholders.
One of the aims of the 2005 report was to study whether land reclamation might provide a solution for the disposal of inert construction and demolition material.
Land reclamation, requiring massive quantities of construction and demolition material, is not likely to encourage initiatives to prevent or reduce the generation of such material by the building industry and this issue should also be approached strategically.
Furthermore, the building industry might not produce the same quantities of inert construction and demolition waste as in 2004 when the report was first commissioned.
Most importantly, land reclamation involves a major environmental cost. Our coastal waters are rich in biodiversity and are part of our natural and cultural heritage. They nurture marine life and contain archaeological remains. Our natural coastline is a unique and treasured landscape.
The marine and coastal environment is not an unlimited space that is up for grabs for development.
It is a precious resource, owned and enjoyed by the entire community, which must be approached with the principles of sustainability and public participation in mind at all times.
Petra Caruana Dingli is a former environment protection director at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.