News | Sunday, 30 November 2008

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BirdLife shoots down Gatt’s ‘concerns’ over Ghadira

James Debono
Birdlife Malta has dismissed Minister Austin Gatt’s sudden interest in the erosion of Ghadira beach in Mellieha, as an attempt to deflect the public’s attention from the ecological impact of a new road on surrounding protected areas.
Gatt is facing a barrage of criticism over a proposed Trans-European Network (TEN-T) road that could be built right behind the Ghadira nature reserve. The option is one of five, which could include closing down the present road by the beach, and tunnel into the garigue behind the nature reserve and the Danish Village holiday complex.
Reacting to BirdLife and Din l-Art Helwa’s opposition, Gatt has warned that the Ghadira beach would be washed away to erosion if an alternative is not found to the existing coastal road.
Bt the minister has admitted he has no studies backing his claim.
“It is obvious that this is simply deflecting attention from the real issue at hand,” BirdLife conservation manager Andre Raine, said.
“The simple facts are that the road will cause irretrievable damage to fragile habitats, protected as both Special Protected Areas and Special Areas of Conservation in the Natura 2000 network; will pass directly through the Foresta 2000 project site, and will potentially cause unacceptable levels of run-off, noise and sound pollution to the Ghadira Nature Reserve.”
Din l-Art Helwa expressed amazement at the minister’s baseless claims on beach erosion – effectively the main argument he put forward for the construction of the new road.
Gatt even intends to apply for TEN-T funds for this project by January, although he said he is still open to options proposed by NGOs.
“Is he being serious in inviting the public to submit further options on such a complex decision only one month before the proposal must be submitted for these funds?” asked Din-l-Art Helwa.
While Gatt claims BirdLife did not object to the road in two meetings it held with the Malta Transport Authority (ADT), Birdlife says no details were provided in their first meeting apart from a draft drawing, and it was only in the second meeting that ADT answered BirdLife’s questions.
It was only after studying the impacts of the proposed road project that BirdLife decided to oppose it.
“Would he prefer BirdLife to form its opinion without proper consideration?” BirdLife executive director Tolga Temuge told MaltaToday.
“Rather than making assumptions on BirdLife’s behalf, Gatt should answer how replacing a four-lane road with no existing traffic problems with a two-lane road makes any sense from a transportation point of view,” Temuge said.

Experts call for studies
Gatt is claiming that the road’s proximity to Ghadira beach has cut it off from the valley’s natural flow, causing it to erode severely and preventing the natural process of sand replenishment.
While seeing a grain of truth in the claim, marine biologist Alan Deidun says the should consider replacing the existing road with an elevated one on the same site. “Redeveloping the existing road into an elevated one… allows a continuum between the existing beach and the sand dunes in the nature reserve.”
Deidun says the only study carried out on Ghadira was in 1990 by biologist Anton Micallef, who said the beach was “in need of nourishment following extensive studies.”
The study shows Ghadira’s sediment volume was 33% less between 1991-1996, practically the same rate of loss suffered by Golden Bay, but less than the 62% lost by Paradise Bay.
“Since the existing road bisects the beach from the sand dunes there is an element of truth in the minister’s assertion that the beach is being eroded,” Deidun says.
Evidence of the disruption in the transport of sand from the beach to the sand dunes in the nature reserve are the piles of sand accumulating next to the kiosks on the present road.
But marine biologist Victor Axiak says Gatt’s argument that the new road is needed “not to lose the beach” is far too generic. He says that the present road is only one of many factors affecting this balance.
“No proper studies have ever been made here and there may be other important factors which are being overlooked,” Axiak says, amongst them mismanaged use of land.
“Because of this mismanagement, large sand dunes which used to be located at the back of the beach and which used to support a unique biodiversity, have been almost completely lost… there is much more to saving the Ghadira beach than the relocation of the present road.”
On the other hand, marine biologist Joseph Borg, who also acts as EIA consultant in various projects, agrees with the minister, citing similar examples in Marsalforn and Balluta. He says climate change and more frequent storms are aggravating factors.
“One of the solutions is the amalgamation of the sand dunes with the beach through the relocation of the road. Yet this obviously would create an impact somewhere else,” Borg says.
But it’s also doubtful whether a new road behind the nature reserve will eliminate the need for the existing coastal road, which provides access to the Danish Village holiday complex.
Additionally, the proposed road faces the presently undisturbed holiday bungalows, the complex would still need an access road to the beach, which would still bisect the beach from the sand dune ecosystem.
The existing road also shields the nature reserve from the sea. Green Party spokesperson on sustainable development Carmel Cacopardo foresees that in the event of a storm and strong north-east winds, everything in the reserve could be swept to the sea if the existing road is removed.
Ironically, despite Gatt’s claims that the present road contributes to the erosion of the beach, people familiar with the beach confirm that the sandy beach was even smaller before the present road was constructed and sand was pumped from deeper water onto the beach.

Hotel first to apply to redirect road
A MaltaToday probe of past planning applications reveals that the Seabank Hotel made the first application to redirect part of the existing road, and eliminate the stretch between the hotel and the beach, ten years ago.
In April 1998, it presented an application for the replenishing of the beach, by re-routing the road, and including a car park between the hotel and the beach. In 1995 they also applied for an extension of the beach, but the application did not include any redirection of the road.
Both applications were withdrawn by the hotel, which instead started showing interest in developing the agricultural land behind the hotel.
The hotel, started off as a nine-room guesthouse facing Ghadira in 1984, is set to grow into a 571-room hotel with a 700 square-metre pool providing an “all inclusive” service to its residents.

Legal boathouses for demolition
Ironically the same government which took a pre-electoral commitment not to demolish the illegal boathouses in Armier, is now proposing the new road to pass right through legally built boathouses, which pay an annual rent of €93.17. The lease was issued by the Labour government in 1984.
But it will be easy to terminate the lease, because it gets renewed by government every six months. There is still no involvement of the Lands Department at this preliminary stage of consultation, a government spokesperson said.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

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