Nationalist MEP candidate Alan Deidun reasserted his convinction that it should be scientific studies which should dictate whether a new road at Ghadira would cause beach erosion.
Deidun asked whether the Transport Authority had any studies in hand to back its claim that the existing road was in fact causing erosion of the beach and, if so, to make them public.
Deidun said that cheap methods which are effective in curbing beach erosion should be embarked upon prior to embarking on costly rerouting alternatives.
“One of these referred to the non-grooming of the Ghadira beach during winter/non-tourist months. It had been scientifically proven that accumulations of dead seagrass material, called wrack, help to fight beach erosion by accreting sand beneath them, acting as a natural buffer against the onlaught by pounding waves during winter. Most countries throughout the Mediterranean had in fact taken the advise of biologists of not cleaning/grooming their tourist beaches during shoulder months, only to clear the wrack at about April/May with the onset of the first tourists.”
Deidun added that signs could be installed on the beach informing winter visitors of the reason as to why the beach was not being ‘cleaned’ and the wrack was an important ecosystem in itself.
“One other measure which could be adopted by government is to dismantle the concrete wall which has been developed on one side of the Ghadira beach which was reflecting some of the incoming waves onto the beach, exacerbating beach erosion. Only when such two measures are embarked upon should government start contemplating road rerouting.”
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