Marsascala is set to get a woodland “bigger than Buskett” as Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced a large afforestation project for the Inwadar national park in his budget speech.
It signals the government has backed a proposal by a group of architects and civil engineers for over 40,000 indigenous trees in the park, which takes up 315,000 square metres of land between Żonqor Point in Marsascala and Xgħajra.
Some €20 million will be invested over a period of five years to bring the project to life and manage water sources as well as safeguard the surrounding biodiversity.
Launched at the end of September, the ‘Help Malta Breathe’ project proposed increasing the number of trees on site by forty-fold, with a planned irrigation system that would draw water from the nearby Ta Barkat sewage treatment plant.
Nicholas Mallia, one of the architects behind the project, told Times of Malta he was inspired to act due to his frustration at the lack of attention being given to safeguard the environment.
The proposal may serve as a balm to the residents of Marsascala, whose open rural spaces have been cast under the shadow of construction projects in recent years, such as the relocation of a waterpolo pitch to a swimming zone and the signing off of public land for the construction of a university campus
Most recently a proposal to construct a yacht marina that would see most of the Marsascala bay swept up in pontoons received an outcry of public condemnation and sparked several protests.
Caruana also promised the restoration of San Anton gardens, which has caught the public’s attention for being in a state of disrepair, would go ahead shortly. He added that the Government would also be conducting studies into the feasibility of turning Triq Sant Anna in Floriana into a pedestrian zone and garden.
Restoration projects at the family park in Bengħajsa, the Marsascala family park as well as Ġnien Kottoner and San Klement park in Żabbar would begin this year, Caruana said, while other valley restoration projects are in the works.
The Pace Grasso stadium in Paola, also known as the Schreiber Sports ground, which is currently use das a car park, will be transformed into a 12,000 square metre community open space, where 165 trees, 2,500 shrubs and 1,500 ornamental plants wills be planted.