While everyone is looking upwards towards the great heights the ITS project site will reach, no one seems to be aware of what lies underneath this proposed mega-structure: the toponymy of the location Għar Ħarq il-Ħammiem (Cave of the Turkish Baths). This toponymy indicates the entrance to Malta’s largest, deepest and, for the most part, unexplored semi-submerged cave system.

The depth under water, as reported by intrepid divers, is more than 30 metres. The cave system as a whole is circa 52 metres in height (above and below sea level). The main cave is immense, monumental, almost a cathedral.

That this site is much larger than at present investigated comes from the fact that the fauna and creatures found in the waters are exact copies of other creatures found in the sea, except that these are blind, after millennia passed in absolute darkness. The cave system expands, with all probability in the direction of the ITS project area.

It is a known fact that when the Dragonara tower was being built, an underwater cave system was also discovered under the foundations. This was filled in with liquid concrete, otherwise, the stability of the towers would have been compromised.

One aspect with regard to Għar Ħarq il-Ħammiem is that it is a protected site in its entirety. Any attempt at filling in part of the system with concrete would jeopardise the ecosystem that thrives within. Moreover, it would cost the contractor unprecedented millions in “dumped” concrete fill. And, on another note, if a different cave system, 60 metres high by 30 metres wide, is discovered, how is one going to fill it in?

The main cave is immense, monumental, almost a cathedral

Another issue is the price tag mentioned for the project: €150 million. Will anyone check that these numbers add up for the project at hand? What happens if the intended project runs out of funding? I mention this in light of other major projects, costing the same amount or almost that went completely belly up.

The Xemxija/Gemxija project is one such case. It was publicised at a staggering €250 million in 2008. At the time, I had written that the sum would not be enough to demolish the iconic Mistra village complex and the excavation work necessary for the foundations for a 19-storey complex.

After repeated protest by NGOs, the project was eventually reduced to 12 storeys, with 900 “apartments”. Still, the group had not even demolished a third of Mistra village (leaving it a complete ruin) before “finances ran out”. In a statement, the group said the necessary funds had never materialised and foreign investors had lost interest.

A renewal permit for a modified project was presented in August 2018. This now envisages six separate blocks, 13 storeys high. These will include 744 “apartments” and a supermarket. Practically no parking lots will be available for the circa 1,400 plus residents with vehicles because the area lies exactly on top of a Grade A designated site, the still functioning and restored British period grain stores.

Moreover, the project lies square in the middle of the Xemxija designated area of archaeological importance. The geology of the site is also in question. Part of the Gemxija project lies on a heavily-faulted and fissured cliff face. Former inhabitants of this region, the Romans, came to respect the geology when their newly-rock-hewn Roman baths system (again located just outside/beneath of the Gemxija project), slipped 15 metres down the cliff face.

In recent years, vibrations from demolition works and mechanical digging have already caused part of the Roman bath wall to collapse. It is hoped that future works in the area will be closely monitored by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.

Returning to ITS site. Will the project prove to be another white elephant? The developers will have to bear the cost for the demolition of present structures and build foundations able to support an 18-storey complex and a skyscraper, 38 storeys high.

Will the project be abandoned halfway through the demolition of the 19th century, British military barracks? In 2008 and 2013, a sum of €250 million was a huge amount and, still, mega-projects failed. If the Gemxija group did not make it back then, how are we going to expect that the ITS project will get off the ground with almost half the sum and given present market costs?

What about the eventuality of encountering unprecedented, “unforeseeable” and nondescript “discoveries” on the way down?

This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece