The Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation has justified its controversial decision to cut down nearly a dozen mature trees along the Valletta bastions, saying they belong to an invasive species.
The trees, it said, would be replaced by two-metre-high saplings of a different species.
The operation was part of “upgrading works” and has the blessing of the Environment Resources Authority, the corporation added.
The State entity sent these clarifications in reaction to a story published last Saturday by Times of Malta about the chopping down of a line of mature trees along Marsamxett bastions and the public outrage that greeted it.
Two employees of a private contractor commissioned by the GHRC took the trees down with a chainsaw as residents and passers-by watched in disbelief.
It later transpired that the trees, which had been there for decades, were felled as part of an EU-funded embellishment project that stretches from Fort St Elmo to Mattia Preti Square.
The incident only served to fuel more criticism of the government’s environmental credentials, coming just two days after the approval of a new road project from Saqqajja Hill in Rabat to Mrieħel which will result in the destruction of about 500 trees.
Invasive species
However, the GHRC pointed out that the 11 trees cut down in Valletta were of an invasive species – 10 xumakk falz and one bżar falz.
Such species are deemed detrimental to the natural environment
Such species, it said, were “deemed to be detrimental to the natural environment” by the Trees and Woodland Protection Regulations issued last year.
It also pointed out that ERA’s guidelines recommended the removal of all invasive species for the benefit of the environment and the planting of an indigenous one to compensate for every tree lost.
In this particular case, judas and tamarisk trees were chosen since they were very well suited to the exposed characteristics of the area and had a small root system which presumably would not damage the bastions, the corporation said.
It conceded that it would take years for these trees to grow as high as those that have been axed, as the replacements would be two-metre-high saplings in bottomless planters.
Nonetheless, it would not be long before the new trees would provide some shade for pedestrians, it added.
It also noted that in its other projects, such as Triton Square and Laparelli Garden in the Valletta ditch, it had placed a lot of emphasis on planting native trees.