News | Sunday, 01 February 2009

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Forgotten artificial islands back on the national agenda

Land reclamation in the form of artificial islands is once again being proposed, this time as embellishment for beaches, in the proposed solid waste management plan.
“It is important to open the debate on the potential of reclamation as well as the creation of islands initially as an embellishment for beaches to transform what is today considered a waste into a resource,” the draft waste management strategy states, which was issued for public consultation last week.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi first proposed the creation of an artificial island, composed of construction and demolition waste, in the same press conference where he proposed the aborted Xaghra l-Hamra golf course in June 2005.
Two sites have been put forward by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) for land reclamation: one off the coast of Maghtab and another to the southeast of the island. These sites were proposed in a report by Danish company Carl Bro Intelligent Solutions.
But four years down the line, the government has not taken a decision on whether the development is feasible or not, despite studies commissioned by MEPA undertaken by British experts Scott Wilson and their local partners ADI Associates.
Of Malta’s waste, most (84%) is derived from construction sites. Although developers have to pay a fee to dispose this waste, the draft waste strategy plan acknowledges that the amount of waste dumped has increased between 2005 and 2007.
The government’s new strategy on waste management includes a stiff warning that if “unsustainable practices continue” the government will have to raise tariffs on the disposal of this waste in quarries and at sea.
To encourage the recycling of construction waste dumped in quarries or in the sea, the new policy proposes the abolition of VAT on recyclable construction material to encourage its use.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

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