Xgħajra land reclamation will have devastating impact on nature, residents – Moviment Graffitti

Moviment Graffitti reiterated its position that it is against any form of large-scale land reclamation that may be planned for the locality of Xgħajra and the surrounding coast.

Recent news reports have said that leaks from an Environment Authority Report regarding potential land reclamation sites show that Xghajra would be the area selected for a land reclamation project. The announcement raised concern from Xghajra residents.

Moviment Graffitti said in a statement that any form of land reclamation will have devastating and irreparable impacts on the natural coast, the sea and its eco-system, as well as on residents and workers in the area.

“Many other people and entities have spoken out against this land reclamation, with James Grixti, secretary of the National Fisheries Cooperative warning of a major socioeconomic catastrophe if the land reclamation were to take place, as this would have a direct impact on the livelihood of fishermen in the area and beyond, due to the massive loss of fishing grounds. Maltese fishermen are already restricted by activities such as oil bunkering, tuna pens, and other coastal activities, and this will only contribute to limiting the access to the sea.

“The sea has its own diverse eco-system which contributes to the regeneration of said sea, and land reclamation would have a direct negative impact on this fragile eco-system which we so rely on.“

Xgħajra residents have also spoken out against this issue. “In a packed hall in Xgħajra, the residents made it clear that they are against any form of land reclamation which will change the natural coast in this area. Not to mention the threat of commercialization to the relatively pristine coastline between Xgħajra and Marsascala.“

“One cannot talk about the issue of land reclamation without mentioning the proposed Gozo tunnel, and other massive projects such as the db Group tower on the former ITS site in Pembroke, Corinthia’s 12 tower blocks in St Julian’s, as well as the Mistra project which will produce tons of construction waste, which is why this land reclamation is needed in the first place.” Moviment Graffitti is strongly against these massive projects, “which will clearly only benefit the owners, while destroying Malta’s precious environment along the way“. Moviment Graffitti states that the people and the environment must come first.

The sea might be the next environmental victim Nature Trust Malta

Nature Trust – Foundation for Environmental Education Malta expressed its disappointment that the sea might be the next to fall victim to environmental degradation.

The problem of construction waste has been long coming, but government after government have failed to address it by devising a long-term construction waste strategy, hence allowing the problem to reach its critical stage today, the NGO said yesterday.

“Developers are now irresponsibly taking the easy way out by recommending dumping at sea as a quick fix solution.”

The organisation noted that a large proportion of Malta’s immediate territorial waters were recently designated as Marine Protected Areas in the form of Special Protected Areas or Special Areas of Conserva- tion (and consequently Natura 2000 sites). It said that Malta’s marine environment is also a major source of income for our islands, both in terms of fisheries and in terms of trade and tourism.

While acknowledging that construction and demolition waste is a major source of waste on our islands, the organisation said it felt that prevention is better than cure. As highlighted by the 2008 European Union Waste Framework Directive, disposal is the worst possible option for the environment while reduction is the most advisable, they said. The said framework directive indicated that, after prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, and recovery are the more preferable options to disposal.

Since the current construction frenzy does not appear to be slowing down, NT-FEE Malta said it believes that reducing the generation of stone at source may mitigate generation of construction waste in the first place.

Possible ideas to reduce waste, as suggested by the organisation, are for developers to practise deconstruction instead of demolitions, for the use of standard sizes and quantities of materials in buildings to reduce off cuts, to use waste stone to restore rubble walls or to reconstitute building blocks, and to pulverise limestone in order to create limestone dust which can be used for other purposes.

It also noted that recently it was announced that the local Globigerina Limestone was designated as a Global Heritage Stone Resource by the International Union of Geological Sciences. Yet, they lamented, it seems that the MDA deems it fit to dump one of the most important rock types into the sea.