Works have started on a €9 million project to transform dilapidated quays along the Cottonera coastline into a new promenade stretching from the Villa Bighi area to Fort St Angelo. 

Infrastructure Malta (IM) said the first part of the project will be the reconstruction of Sally Port Road, also known as it-Toqba, and the 600 metres of quays on which it is built.

The investment, in collaboration with the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation (GHRC), will also include the upgrading of the Kalkara Waterfront and the locality’s square.

Parts of the old Sally Port quays that were badly damaged by storms through the years are being removed as the concrete structures are at risk of caving in, causing public safety concerns, IM said.

In the meantime, a team of divers is repairing and stabilising the underwater sections of other sections of the quays, which will be retained and incorporated in the new promenade.

Photo: Infrastructure Malta

IM said the reconstruction of the Sally Port quays will turn a neglected seafront area in Cottonera into "a new promenade, with wide, paved footpaths, benches and decorative lighting".

It will also include a public garden, new public toilets and landscaped areas with flower beds and shrubs suitable for the coastal environment.

This new outdoor recreational space will be directly linked to the centre of Vittoriosa, through the historic sally port tunnel built within the bastions separating the quays from the city.

It will also be connected to the Vittoriosa Waterfront, creating an uninterrupted pedestrian route from the Villa Bighi area of Kalkara to the Vittoriosa marina, the Dock 1 area of Cospicua, the Senglea waterfront and all the way to Boiler Wharf, beneath the Gardjola Gardens.

Last year, residents had objected that the project prioritises traffic over community needs, describing it as "an uninspired sea of concrete".

Project planning started in 2018 with initial studies to determine the structural condition of the Sally Port quays. After years of storm damage and lack of maintenance and repairs, the quays and the road above them started to become inaccessible, with serious safety risks to road users, mariners and pedestrians.

Long stretches of the quays paved in during the February 2019 Gregale storm which caused extensive damage in different parts of Malta.

Following a public consultation period, the PA issued development permits last month. The reconstruction of the quays and the development of the new promenade are scheduled to be completed within 18 months. 

IM is also collaborating with the GHRC to extend this project to the adjacent Kalkara Waterfront, so that the entire area can be embellished in the same design. Works in Kalkara will include the construction of new footpaths, the embellishment of the square in front of the parish church and the reinforcement of the existing promenade.