Marsaskala primary school students use paper boats to speak out against yacht marina

The students at Marsaskala’s St. Anne primary school are the latest from the local community to voice their concerns against the government’s proposed yacht marina at the locality’s bay.

The Marsaskala St. Anne Primary School took to social media last week to share how their year six students had held class discussions on the importance of safeguarding the Mediterranean Sea, such as by keeping it clean.

“Pupils also voiced their concerns against the recent plans to build a yacht marina in their village and how this would negatively impact the environment and the sea itself,” the school said on its Facebook page.

And while many other residents and NGOs have taken to the streets in protests and in press conferences, the students had their own way of voicing their concerns: by making paper boats with messages voicing their opinions on the project.

The school said that the pupils would be going to the Marsaskala promenade to put the boats into the sea as a symbolic gesture against the project as well.

The controversial project, which was first revealed in August, would substantially increase the current berthing capacity to a minimum of at least 700 berths in the Marina pertaining to the Project, and take up the vast majority of Marsascala Bay.

Calculations and research by Transport Malta, as revealed by The Malta Independent on Sunday, placed the estimated procurement value of the project at €183,233,983 based on the estimated turnover across a concession term of 50 years.

Four companies and joint ventures – two local ones, and two foreign ones – have expressed their interest in the project, as Transport Malta forges ahead with it – despite massive public outcry against it.

93% of those who responded to a survey on the marina in fact said that they were fully against the project.