Channel tunnel would likely cross from Nadur to Manikata

The channel tunnel between Malta and Gozo is expected to be built between Manikata and Nadur, it was announced yesterday, with Transport Minister Ian Borg saying that these areas had been identified by experts.

The exact location within these areas has not yet been decided, and the actual underground route has not yet been decided either. The government is currently waiting for the results of the coring studies.

A conceptual design is expected to be concluded before the end of the year. The tunnel will be around 13 kilometres long.

Users of the tunnel would be paying a toll, likely a similar amount to the Gozo Channel fare.

The transport minister said that government was committed to the project.

There would be a lane in each direction, and a third to serve in emergencies, he said, adding that the tunnel would be able to see 6,500 vehicles pass daily.

He said that the tunnel would follow EU safety standards, stressing that this was why a Norwegian expert was helping on the project.

He said that many studies had already been carried out, including investigative coring, data on the sea bed and the rock beneath the ground.

He said that the University of Malta and OGS Trieste would be building a geological model using the studies. “This year we aim to complete the preparatory studies, including the design. The next step is for tenders to be issued to survey and design the roads leading to the tunnel.”

He said that the environment was a priority in all these preparatory studies. “We will be commissioning a whole environmental impact assessment (EIA) for them. We will choose entrances which have the least possible environmental impact.”

“In Gozo, we are looking at using developed land in Nadur, while in Malta we are looking at the area between Manikata and Imbordin, which will help clear the bottleneck near Xemxija.”

Comino is out of the picture, he said.

He mentioned that the biggest challenge was getting rid of the excavated waste, and said that the EIA would help to address that problem.

Norwegian expert Prof. Eivind Grov said he had been part of the project since 2016, but also mentioned that he had also been involved back in 2011. He said that Norway had begun developing sub-sea tunnels in the 1980s and had around 35 of them.

He said that the geological conditions here were well-suited for sub-sea tunnel planning.

Asked about the determination of the entrances, he said they would not put an entrance on flat land, and must look for a hillside, making it smaller, less outstanding in the topography. The perfect location, he said, would be a vertical wall of rock. He said they are also taking into consideration the ground level when compared to the sea level.

On the Gozo side, he said, Nadur was the closest point with the lowest terrain.

In terms of time frames, the minister and the expert said that once the studies concluded, and the route was designed, an international call for a contractor to implement the project would be issued. Excavation work itself, the expert said, would take approximately three years, but setting up for the project itself could take six months as well. Following excavation, the work inside would also need to occur, which would include lighting, road laying and so on.

The minister said that many models could be run on a build-and-operate scenario, where the investor builds and runs the tunnel. Financing, he said, would come from tolls.

He indicated that government would most likely look for a strategic partner in the project, probably in a public-private partnership. He said that the tender would probably design, build and operate the tunnel, and that there were many schools of thought in terms of what would happen after the return on investment. Minister Borg said that he had not spoken to any potential investors with regard to financing, and that to his knowledge, nobody from the government had either.