Malta will turn to land reclamation in the coming years as part of a drive to make better use of its limited land resources, according to the government’s 2050 vision.
While the government’s plans for land reclamation remain under wraps, sources say it could be used to move industrial activity from the mainland and onto reclaimed land. This move would free up much-needed space on the mainland for public purposes.
Although the 2050 vision stops short of naming specific sites, it states that land reclamation will be used to “respect and improve the environment” and “add value to the country”.
Large land reclamation projects will be used to “address limited land space and create additional space for the country’s needs,” the report says.
The vision does make mention of one land reclamation project in the pipeline, namely the construction of a new terminal at the Birżebbuġa freeport.
This would be the second such land reclamation project at the freeport in recent times, following ongoing works to square off and extend the quay of one of the existing terminals.
Land reclamation plans never got off the ground
This is far from the first time that land reclamation has been mooted over the years.
Over a decade ago, the newly-elected Labour government had launched an international call for expressions of interest in land reclamation projects, but none of the 21 proposals received ever got off the ground.
By that point, hoteliers had already been pitching the idea for the best part of a decade, with then-environment minister George Pullicino seemingly keen on the idea.
Plans to build a new peninsula off the Portomaso complex, to be used for new apartments, hotels and offices, were widely panned when they emerged in 2016.
In 2018, the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) identified the coast of Xagħra as the only viable location for a major land reclamation project, much to the dismay of local residents.
By the following year, the government said it had identified five unnamed sites as potentially suitable for land reclamation.
And in 2023, both Robert Abela and then-infrastructure minister Aaron Farrugia separately spoke of land reclamation plans, with the latter saying that the Planning Authority would be receiving an application for a land reclamation project at some point throughout 2024.
It remains unclear whether land reclamation will also be used to ease the government’s ongoing difficulties in allocating industrial land.
The government plans to take other steps to address this, including clustering factories operating in similar sectors near one another and beefing up legislation to ensure that companies who are not using industrial land in line with their obligations can be evicted.