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| TOP NEWS | Sunday, 12 August 2007 The road to Smart City – over 600m of tarmac through arable land Although Smart City will be built on derelict land, the infrastructure paving the way for the project is having a significant environmental impact. The project has already resulted in the relocation of the new waste treatment plant, originally projected for Wied Ghammieq, to Tal-Barkat on 35,000 square metres of countryside. Now, a four-lane, 23-metre wide dual carriageway is set to link Zabbar with Kalkara and the Smart City project, running for 643 metres through largely arable land.
The road will start from Zabbar’s Bieb is-Sultan and end at Triq Santa Liberata, next to the Capuchin’s Convent in Kalkara. An Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is being prepared to assess the inevitable loss of agricultural land between Kalkara and Zabbar. Although the new road will cut through a tract of irrigated and non-irrigated agricultural land, it will doubtless help alleviate traffic problems in residential areas and historic zones. This existing road network passes through the city centres of Cospicua, Vittoriosa, and Kalkara, but any further increase in traffic to the internet city at Ricasoli cannot be accommodated. The new road is intended as a bypass, diverting industrial and commercial traffic away from residential areas and the historic Cottonera towns. Construction is planned for 2008 up to mid-2009, if the planning authority approves the project. At the proposed roundabout at Bieb is-Sultan, existing industrial/residential and agricultural buildings will have to be demolished to make way for the proposed road. The new road will not only eradicate agricultural land, but also two boreholes and reservoirs used by farmers for the irrigation of crops. It will also pass through four agricultural rooms and two carob trees. The transport authority had considered a 500-metre tunnel as a possible alternative to the road. However, this was deemed unviable because costs were estimated at 20 times that of the surface road. The tunnel also posed a threat to the groundwater aquifer.
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NEWS | Sunday, 12 August 2007 PN support in Gozo in free-fall Bortex fires Maltese, hires Chinese Forget the bedpans, let’s talk travel plans… ‘Our pharmacy licences are now safe and more valuable than ever’ AFM calls off search for missing migrants Musicians give hope to immigrants Mangion stands by Pender Place sale Mangion stands by Pender Place sale European gays appoint Maltese activist as policy officer Ostreopsis not an alien species Rockers, relax – cult programme will be back MMA official bluffed with junior to corrupt him Mistake paves way for Marsa hazardous waste incinerator PBS schedule ‘turned into auction’ UTV fracas: Former director to sue priest for libel To Gozo, and beyond Rector wants a ‘Gozitan Lourdes’ in Ta’ Pinu The road to Smart City – over 600m of tarmac through arable land |