Developers cry foul over Ta’ Xbiex stormwater outfall
Raphael Vassallo
A proposed flood relief project, co-funded by the European Union, has sounded alarm-bells among landowners and developers in the Ta’ Xbiex area, where a discharge point is envisaged to pump untreated rainwater directly into Marsamxett harbour – already contaminated by raw sewage from nearby Valletta.
Details of the project – approved in principle by the Ta’ Xbiex local council, despite formal objections by landowners in the area – are available for viewing on the Malta Environment & Planning Authory website.
The period for representations expired on 14 February, but not before objections were filed by the Testaferrata Moroni Viani family, which owns substantial parts of developed and undeveloped plots in the locality.
“The proposal to have a discharge point at Ta’ Xbiex is objectionable in principle, because that will inherently bring about the accumulation of tainted rainwater (including sewage, contaminated water from vehicular traffic, etc.) in the harbour area,” Dr Martin Testaferrara Moroni Viani wrote to the authority’s director of planning, adding that “the effect of the proposal will severely harm the prime location status of the Marsamxett-Manoel Island area.”
Testeferrata Moroni Viani also insists on “a written guarantee... that the proposal will not adversely affect our present right to develop our property, including underground developments.”
According to the development brief, the infrastructural works in question form part of the National Flood Relief Project (NRFP) to address the flash-flood problem regularly affecting low-lying areas such as Birkirkara, Msida, Qormi, Attard, Lija, Balzan and Gzira.
Ironically, the director of this project, Carmelo Mifsud Borg, separately confirmed fears of water contamination in comments to this newspaper some weeks ago, while explaining the unfeasibility of re-using such water for agricultural or other purposes.
“Once the water ends up in the road, nobody knows what it contains,” he said. “It could get mixed with sewage, oils and other dangerous materials. To be reused it has to be re-polished.”
Mifsud Borg also explained that to capture and store storm water, a costly infrastructural investment is required.
“Economically, it does not make sense to let this water drain in the roads and then spend a lot of money to capture, store it and polish it to make it good for consumption and than to deliver it.”
The system therefore proposes flushing this excess water directly into the sea. But rather than pumping the water directly into the open sea - as suggested by objectors, including the Testaferata Moroni Vianis – the idea is to direct it into a closed port.
The discharge point is in fact earmarked for an area of the Ta’ Xbiex waterfront directly adjacent to the existing yacht marina, in a harbour already prone to water pollution (and resulting noxious odours) on account of poor water circulation in the harbour.
This problem, objectors claim, is likely to be aggravated with the new discharge, with deleterious effects on numerous nearby projects, some of which involve ithe investment of millions of euros.
“It is wrong - especially after huge sums of money have been spent developing the prime areas of Malta - that a flood relief outlet carring all sorts of impurities picked up along the water course... is allowed to disgorge right in the middle of such developments.”
Apart from the existing Ta’ Xbiex Marina and gardens, within a stone’s throw from the proposed discharge point are both the Manoel Island (MIDI) project and also the refurbished Excelsior Hotel, both of which plan to have their own yacht marinas.
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