It’s quite common, nowadays, to hear people complaining that we have too much development (of buildings) which is absorbing all our open spaces and countryside. At the same time we hear others complaining against tall buildings, which, in itself, is another way for maximising the utilisation of the land available. We have even read recently somebody suggesting that the government should now suspend the importation of motor cars.
On the other hand we also know that the government has a long list, thousands in fact, of people who are seeking adequate accommodation. Even just as serious, only recently, the Minister for Economic Development was quoted saying that it is now becoming very difficult finding floor space for new factories, something which could curtail or slow down the development of our industrialisation and therefore of our economy.
The department responsible for the collection and disposal of waste material is saying that the availability of quarries as landfills has its limitations and that we would again be facing the same problems in a few years’ time. We have now been told that Malta’s engineered landfill will be running out of space within 18 months.
The fact is that Malta, which was always a small island, has now become too small for its gradually expanding population and to support the current dynamic development of our economy. So what is the solution? Do we need to invent the wheel to solve this problem? Or should we take a look around us and see what other countries, even much, much bigger than ours have done and are doing.
Countries, by far much bigger than Malta, have solved their problem through the reclamation of land from the sea. It is by definition, sometimes also referred to as land fill, the process of creating new land from the sea or riverbeds.
There are various methods by which one can reclaim land from the sea. The most simple method is perhaps where a large amount of heavy rock, soil or debris is dumped on a (predetermined) coastline until the desired height (above sea level) is reached. We in Malta had seen the reclaiming of some land from the sea when the government built the Freeport at Birżebbuġa.
In November 1993 the Freeport Technical Department issued the pre-notification of a tender for the reclamation of land from the sea for the development of Terminal Two at the Freeport.
This is not an easy subject for any government as it has extensive political, technical and financial implications, but should we at least start considering the pros and cons of land reclamation from the sea?
If we managed to do something so successfully 24 years ago, with more modern equipment and technology, why can’t we do even better today?
Even much larger countries have over the years felt the need to reclaim land from the sea. China, which is one of the largest countries in the world, keeps expanding and is reclaiming hundreds of square kilometres every year.
The media in China have dubbed this land reclamation programme as ‘The gift from the Sea’. But then land reclamation is not new in China. China has in fact been reclaiming land from the sea since 1664.
As to the financial implications, Liu Hongbin, a professor at the Ocean University of China, says that reclaimed land can result in a ten to a hundredfold profit. Naturally the costs involved in the development of such a project would depend very much on the depth of the sea where land is being reclaimed.
But we, one of the smallest islands in the world, are still undecided on land reclamation. Are we prepared, at least, to start doing some research (perhaps by the University of Malta), knowing the depth of the sea around Malta, to see if it is feasible and if ‘yes’ where we can plan to reclaim land from the sea?
The Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and indeed other ministers have all mentioned that the government’s future budget/s will be based on ‘restructuring’.
We have yet to see the details of what the government has in mind by restructuring, but I certainly hope that sometime in the not too distant future, the government would perhaps consider entering into public/private partnerships with investors in major projects who would be prepared to acquire land by reclaiming it from the sea instead of from arable land.
On the other hand a land reclamation programme can produce more open spaces, coast line and arable land.
A well-known female journalist writing in a blog of a local newspaper, recently concluded her article with: “We have reached breaking point, and the growing of indignation caused by the overdevelopment, noise, traffic, disruption of our lives, too many people, lack of open spaces and lack of enforcement is like a pressure cooker waiting to explode.”
Yes, but what are we going to do to meet the situation? We have quite a number of individuals, NGOs and sometimes even local councils who are not appreciating our problems and are always too ready to complain against development but none of them try to come up with a solution.
In fact, there are people who it seems are precisely doing their utmost to discourage people from finding solutions.
I do understand that this is not an easy subject for any government as it has extensive political, technical and financial implications, but should we at least start considering the pros and cons of land reclamation from the sea?
Anthony Chircop is a former group head treasurer at Air Malta.