Minister ignores residents' fears, M'Scala ferry to start in coming months: ADPD

Chris Bonett is willing to ride roughshod over residents' concerns about the Marsascala promenade and a new fast ferry, ADPD said on Thursday, after the minister said the transport service will start operating in the coming months.

Bonett was addressing an Infrastructure Malta event about Marsascala promenade works on Wednesday evening. 

"As we did in Buġibba, where this week we inaugurated [a refurbished] square to complement the new fast ferry service, [in Marsascala] we rebuilt the promenade... so that by early next year or late this year, we can also start the fast ferry from here.

"That way, Marsascala will be connected to the rest of Malta, as it should be. And if you want to, you will not have to use the car to get out of [Marsascala]," Bonett told those present.

Marsascala resident and ADPD's candidate in the 3rd and 4th districts, Brian Decelis, asked how Bonett could assume the fast-ferry service will be greenlit before the planning process is concluded.

"Why is there a planning application at all if the minister already knows the permit will be approved and the project will proceed regardless? Is this really the trust and transparency they expect people to believe in?"

Decelis said that residents had also been promised the restoration of arches underneath the promenade, yet there was "still no visible sign of any reconstructed arch".

In December, Marsascala residents, activists and Momentum condemned the demolition of a row of arches on the Marsascala seafront. But IM had said that the arches were being demolished as they posed a danger to the public and were only being held in place by a temporary support structure. 

Decelis said that the new structure appears to be a stepped construction rising onto a promenade used daily by the public.

"Why is this being built without any clear public explanation or transparent plans? Is this another surprise that people are expected to simply discover after an election?

"For decades, the Marsascala promenade has offered open and unobstructed views that form part of the locality’s identity and charm. Are these new structures going to block those views? Is this really the vision that Minister Bonett wants for Marsascala?"

He added that palm trees were being almost completely uprooted, while construction debris was allowed to run into the sea despite a silt curtain set up to contain it. 

"We are seeing an increasingly frantic drive to destroy nature to enrich a few people. That is why residents and others are speaking up. Speaking in favour of what is right and good is not negativity. It is not partisan. It is giving a voice to the sea, to marine life, to trees, and to the natural environment that belongs to all of us," Decelis said.

He added that the Green Party supported the Marsaskala Residents Network and other people of goodwill who were making sure that the residents’ voices were heard.

He said it was unacceptable for ministers and public authorities to push a narrative that attacked or dismissed those who genuinely loved the locality and wanted it to retain its natural richness, identity, and beauty.

Last year, a group of Marsascala residents and a marine biologist raised concerns over dredging works linked to the regeneration project, warning that these could threaten marine life.

Residents have also questioned the purpose of a fast ferry terminal inside the bay, saying the infrastructure will change the site forever.

The €18 million Marsascala regeneration project plans on embellishing 1.5 kilometres of the promenade – from the parish church to the abandoned Jerma Palace Hotel – as well as constructing a ferry terminal that will take passengers to Valletta.