Regatta clubs are to receive government funds to help them each build small wooden boats [dgħajjes tal-pass] to be used to better promote rowing as a sport. 

The boats, which will be engraved with SportMalta logo and will be used during both the March 31 and September 8 regatta races, are part of a broader effort to encourage children to take up the sport, the Sports parliamentary secretariat said. 

Although the secretariat said that funds would be distributed to regatta clubs to help them build new boats, there was no mention of the amounts each club would be receiving, or of how much money would be distributed in total. 

As part of this plan, SportMalta is expected to soon start unveiling training programmes for young people interested in rowing, with the government keen on making the sport a national one, and not something only port towns actively participate in. 

An indoor rowing tank that would allow rowers to train all year round would soon be unveiled in Cottonera, Sports Parliamentary Secretary Chris Agius said. 

SportMalta CEO Mark Cutajar said the organisation was keen to ensure traditions unique to Malta, such as the regatta, were nurtured.

Għaqda Regatta Nazzjonali president Joseph Grima used the occasion to welcome the University rowing club and Siġġiewi rowing club into the organisation's fold.