The opportunity to regenerate old power station area in Marsa should not be squandered on more tourism infrastructure - ADPD

The regeneration of the old power station area in Marsa is a unique opportunity that should not be squandered for the development of more tourism infrastructure, ADPD – The Green Party Chairperson, Carmel Cacopardo said Saturday.

“The old power station area in Marsa is a unique opportunity that should not be squandered for the development of more tourism infrastructure. This regeneration exercise should be taken up as an opportunity to reorganise, modernise and increase the maritime sector’s contribution to the national economy while reducing its environmental impacts”.

ADPD – The Green Party candidate and communications officer Brian Decelis said the public consultation on the principles that will be guiding the regeneration of the Marsa harbour area is welcome.

However, the proposed strategic vision – that of changing the zone into a prime tourism and leisure harbour destination is misguided. Tourism has already engulfed too many prime sites on our islands and we should not be increasing our dependency on this sector, Decelis said.

“Covid-19 has amply demonstrated the fragility of the tourism sector and the excessive dependence of our economy on the sector. It is not the opportune time to increase this dependence. The country’s resources should be applied to other sectors which are less fragile. In addition, as pointed out in a recent study by the Chamber of Commerce the sector already has an excess capacity,” he said.

“Moreover, a significant part of the labour force shifted towards other sectors as a result of Covid-19. It is a known fact that the tourism sector offers many jobs at the lower end of the wage spectrum. Instead of a numerical increase in tourism it is much better to aim at an improvement in the quality of the tourism product. This would result in better employment conditions that serve as an attraction to the required labour force,” he added.

However, the Planning Authority seems to ignore this scenario and is putting forward a vision that it is not suitable in the circumstances, Decelis said.

ADPD – The Green Party Chairperson, Carmel Cacopardo said that the old power station area in Marsa is a unique opportunity that should not be squandered for more tourism infrastructure.

This innermost part of the Grand Harbour has always been dedicated to the maritime sector so much so that the government had announced the development of a maritime hub at the Marsa shipyard dock site, he observed.

“This regeneration exercise should be taken up as an opportunity to re-organise, modernise and increase the maritime sector’s contribution to the national economy while reducing its environmental impacts. However, it does not make sense to shift these activities to outside the regeneration area as this will bring them closer to residential zones in the surrounding localities,” Cacopardo said.

The maritime hub vision had indicated an area of 175,000m² for strategic use of a number of related industries including ship repair and yachting services. The public consultation also includes a number of activities and services that aim to improve the quality of life of the nearby community.

The ADPD leader said that while they acknowledge that it is beneficial to restore old derelict buildings in the area, one should not forget the residential area of Marsa that has been neglected for many years.

“Any development in this area should take a holistic view of regeneration and lead to a better quality of life for the Marsa residents,” he said.

“In this early stage of consultation there is still the opportunity to consider alternative scenarios. This consultation should serve as a unique opportunity to consider the best vision for the Marsa harbour area regeneration for everybody’s benefit – a vision that considers all of Marsa and not just one area,” he concluded.