Urgent work is due to start soon to reinforce part of the St Paul’s Bay promenade, parts of which were barred to the public, amid fears of collapse. 

Located in Triq San Franġisk in the area known as Thalassalejn just a short distance away from the primary school, this part of the promenade will have to be reinforced through the construction of a masonry wall and a concrete base.

St Paul’s Bay mayor Graziella Galea said the area had been sealed off some months ago by the Works Department upon the council's request.

The alarm bells had been sounded in the wake of a serious incident in September last year, in which a nine-year-old girl was critically injured after rocks fell on her while she was swimming in the Veċċja area.

From a preliminary inspection by a government architect, it transpired that both the promenade and the road were structurally unsafe. This was because the rock underneath a brick wall supporting the promenade had eroded, leaving the structure suspended in mid-air.

The cracks in the rock face indicated a significant risk of large boulders falling.

An operation was carried out with the assistance of the Civil Protection Department to manually dislodge the rocks and prevent a sudden collapse. However, the report pointed out that in the case of a violent storm, a collapse could still happen.

As for the long-term solution, it was recommended that a masonry wall using large limestone blocks be erected on top of a concrete platform. However, works will only start in the coming days, as the platform necessitated a development permit, which was only issued recently.