Letters to the editor – July 7, 2026

Free access to beaches

Mary Attard of St Paul’s Bay writes:

The recently embellished Buġibba square has significantly improved, though better choice of trees could have been planted for best coverage from the scorching sun in the summer months, which is a crucial issue that should have been seriously considered.

But the bay beneath it is a disgrace. The jet ski operator has taken the best part of the bay for his business, leaving the rocky sides of the bay for the use of the swimmers. His allowed space is getting wider over time to accommodate his water sports. This sport should not be there, among swimmers but moved to some other place where there are no swimmers, as in Pietà (Sa Maison).

And may I ask why a Maltese citizen has to go through an exam to get a licence to use a jet ski while anybody hiring one can use it without any question, even teenagers barely able to use it. Such situations invite serious accidents and, then, probably nobody will assume any responsibility for what happened.

A jet ski operator has taken up the best part of the bay in Buġibba. Photo: Mary Attard

Also, sand was shifted from one side of the bay to an area closer to the lido, while the seaweed in that area was moved to the rocky area and covered with a thin layer of sand, a very unprofessional job done.

Besides, on the rocky side of the bay, there should be a railing out into the sea and a platform for swimmers to walk over all the dangerous slippery rocks along the beach. It was never like that in the past. Rocks have been shifted around and made the area very dangerous when going out to swim.

I live in the area and I have seen this bay being abused little by little to accommodate businesses rather than the locals’ enjoyment of the bay. 

Even a local foreign resident, this weekend, expressed her disgust to me as to how is it possible that the boundary buoys for the jet skis keeps widening, thus reducing the swimming area of such a small bay.

It is a disgrace how, slowly, all the beaches along Buġibba and Qawra are being taken over privately by businesses and robbing the locals of free access to their beaches.

The floating markers (buoys) should be returned to their original place along the slipway and the cameras on the square should monitor whether these are again moved outwards without any authorisation.

Hoping remedies will be made as soon as possible and the jet skis moved out of the locality to a safer and a more proper area away from swimmers, soonest. Any licences to such sports in this area should never be given.